Digimon Demon Wars: The Return
by arandomguy227
Summary: Three years ago tragedy struck the Digidestined while they were defending their city from an evil Digimon.  Now a new threat, one powerful enough to threaten the Digimon Sovereigns, is emerging.  Can a long lost friend help them save the world again?
1. Prologue

_Hi everyone! So this was an idea that I got while reading through some stories, and I decided to start posting it. Hopefully you guys will like it. I'll update as much as possible, but I have other things that I'm committed too, so I won't promise regular postings, just as often as I can write them!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, today. (or any day for that matter)_

**Digimon Demon Wars: The Return**

**Prologue**

Fire, fire was everywhere, and it was out of control. A ChaosGallantmon struggled back from the edge of the fire, pulling its shield up to protect itself. Its cape had been burned off, and its armored body was covered in dents and scratches, as if it had been in a great battle.

It looked around, as if looking for someone, but unfortunately for this digimon, it was found first. A blast of fire hit the ChaosGallantmon, and when the blast of fire subsided, it was gone. The fire continued to rage, but other than that there wasn't a sound. Suddenly the fire disappeared, almost as if some force had been holding it there and now that force was gone. The cliff where the fire had been burning was now covered in complete silence. Now that the fire had subsided a gate way could be seen, sealed although it was quite simple to walk around and see the far side of the gate. A few feet in front of the gate was a stone pedestal.

Out of the burnt area were the fire had been burning someone walked. He walked cautiously, but not afraid. He was on his guard, but ready to meet anything that he encountered. He was dressed in a fairly worn tan trench coat that could have hidden any number of objects. Long pants protected his legs, while he wore a pair of boots. A blue shirt was worn under the jacket with faded stars just barely visible if you looked closely. His hands were covered in a pair of gloves with the tips cut off, showing the fingers of his hand. On his left wrist was a strange looking device, which beeped as there was a flash of light. All of the clothing he wore looked fairly worn, but not worn out.

His hair was wild, flying in almost every direction, and, on top of a headband keeping his wild hair out if his eyes was a pair of goggles. He walked up to the gate, stopping at the pedestal in front of it, and was joined there by a small orange lizard digimon.

The digimon walked up to the human who was staring at the pedestal and the nine cards he had pulled out of his coat.

"What's the matter?" The digimon asked, concerned for the human.

"I don't know if I can do it." The human replied in a quiet voice.

'What?" The digimon said, throwing his arms up into the air. "We've been fighting for three years for an opportunity like this. You've been pushing yourself and me to our limits for this chance." The digimon walked closer to his friend. "Why the second thoughts?"

"That's just it Agumon." The human said, facing the orange dinosaur. "It's been three years, how can I possibly face any of them?"

The digimon nodded his head, and placed one of his hands on the humans arm. "It'll be ok, you'll see, all of them will be thrilled to see you. Think how much they've been missing you!"

The human looked at his partner, and the expression on his face said he didn't agree, and Agumon sighed.

"Well, either way they're going to need help, and protection." He said, and that seemed to snap the human out of his indecision in a second.

He turned to the pedestal, and placed the nine cards in nine matching spots on the pedestal. The pedestal and the gate glowed before the doors of the gate opened, revealing a portal of sorts.

The human pulls something out of his pocket, and unfolds it. It's a photograph, and a very old and worn one. It has twelve high school age children all smiling, along with eight digimon, all standing by their various partners. The human's eyes linger on the auburn haired girl, laughing at the expression on the face of the boy next to her and the reaction of the Agumon in his arm has to the photographer saying cheese.

The human put the picture away and the two stepped around the pedestal looking at the portal. Before they could step forward the human turned to the Agumon.

"Thanks Agumon, I don't know what I would have done without you these last three years." The human said with a small smile. The Agumon flashed a big smile back.

"Don't mention it Tai!"

**~Elsewhere~**

There was a deep silence in the center of the giant castle. Hordes of digimon stood, staring at the Keramon and two Diaboromon that had just delivered a message to the seven digimon arranged in a semi-circle at the front of the giant room, which was a throne room of sorts.

The digimon all held their breath, because the lack of reaction was not a good thing for the three. Finally one of the seven digimon leaned forward.

"How the hell did he get past the guards?" The digimon spat at the Keramon, which almost let out a breath of relief. None of the digimon gathered around the three were particularly forgiving, or prone to being kind, but Beelzemon, the one who had spoken, was at least fair, most of the time.

"My lord, he had assistance. The humans from the third quadrant provided a distraction, and he broke through the guards left at the gate." The Keramon quickly told Beelzemon, who grunted and leaned back into his seat.

"And why wasn't there a strong enough guard left to ensure no one could slip through?" Another of the digimon asked, and the Keramon turned to face Barbamon.

If digimon could sweat, and if they wore clothing, then this Keramon would have needed a new set of clothing from the amount of sweat that would have been pouring down its body. "Well, my Lord…" The little digimon started, only to be cut off by another voice.

"Be careful what you say, if it is another excuse, things will not go well for you." An angry voice said, and Keramon did its best not to swallow. If you weren't afraid around Daemon then there was something wrong with you.

"Y..y…y..es My Lord." Keramon managed to get out, and then turned to Barbamon, who was tapping his staff on the ground impatiently. Keramon took a deep breath and resumed. "My Lord over a dozen of our best soldiers were left to guard the gate…"

"Only a dozen!" A voice asked, and Keramon looked to the voice. Another of the digimon had stood, and this one had the characteristics of a female, as opposed to the male characteristics the rest of the digimon took after.

"Yes, Lady Lilithmon." The Keramon said, bowing its head.

"And what made you think," Lilithmon asked as she strode towards the Keramon, and ran a hand over its head. "That a dozen guards would be enough?" She smacked the Keramon into one of the flanking Diaboromon. Lilithmon raised her arm to strike Keramon again, but was stopped by someone calling her name.

"Lilithmon." A soothing voice said from the central position around the semi-circle almost too quietly to be heard. Lilithmon stopped in mid strike as another digimon strode down to where she was standing. "This little one was not in command at the gate, taking your anger out on him will solve nothing."

"Someone has to pay for this Lucemon." Lilithmon stated looking right at Lucemon, who nodded.

"Indeed someone will." Lucemon said, just before placing his hand on the Keramon, who had only a second for its eyes to widen, and then it was deleted. The two Diaboromon were frozen in place as their charge was destroyed in front of them. Lucemon made a gesture and all of the digimon, other than Lilithmon and the five in the semicircle left the room.

Lilithmon shook her head at Lucemon. "I thought you said not to take my anger out on him Lucemon."

"I did not take any anger out on him that was to demonstrate to all those gathered why being part, any part, of failure will have a dire consequence for them." Lucemon replied, striding back to his chair, which was really more of a throne. He thought for a few minutes before turning to Beelzemon.

"Beelzemon, you and Belphemon will go through the portal after him, kill him or bring him back to this world, I don't care which, he can't be allowed to interfere with our plans." Lucemon ordered to Beelzemon, who gritted his teeth and nodded, leaving the room, and dragging a giant teddy bear like digimon with him. The others around Lucemon left after that, and Lucemon was left all on his own. Lucemon looked at the hologram of four worlds hovering above the floor of the castle, and said to himself mostly.

"You can run, but you can't hide Tai."

_So what did you guys think? Let me know! Until next time!_


	2. We Still Feel the Loss

_Hi again everyone. So this chapter came out a lot faster than I thought it would, so everyone be happy! Especially because this might be the most depressing thing I've written. So fair warning, this is not a happy chapter. It's from the perspective of the Digidestined, so expect to be confused, none of them know what's going on at all. Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own digimon this week either._

**Chapter 1: We still feel the loss…**

It was a cold winter's day in Odaiba as an auburn haired girl walked the streets. She was dressed in blue jeans and a warm looking blue jacket in an attempt to keep the cold out. She looked like she hadn't been around the street she was walking on in a while, her crimson eyes staring at things that had appeared in the last few months or so. She finally seemed to reach her destination, and pushed the door open.

Sora Takenouchi walked slowly into her apartment building. She had a lot on her mind as she walked at a slow pace to the elevator. When she arrived she just stood there.

_I can't believe that it's been three years tomorrow…_ Sora thought as she stared blankly at the wall waiting for the elevator to arrive.

"Sora? Sora Takenouchi?" A voice asked, interrupting Sora's train of thought. Sora turned to see one of her neighbors walking towards her.

"Hi…" Sora said quietly, she wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone, and this neighbor had a tendency to talk for hours.

"How have you been Sora?" She asks, taking Sora into a hug. Sora awkwardly returned the hug.

_I guess I'll have to talk to her until the elevator gets here…_ Sora thought to herself in exasperation. It wasn't that Sora disliked the neighbor, or had anything against a good conversation, but as she had a lot on her mind thinking about the next day.

"Oh you know, getting by." Sora said, putting a small, and rather fake, smile on her face.

"You've been at college, right? The university that your dad teaches at?" She asked, surprising Sora with the fact that she remembered that.

"Yes," Sora replied, thinking about the last three years, and why she'd been going to Kyoto University for the last two and a half years.

The elevator arrived at this point, much to Sora's relief, she just wanted to get back to her apartment, and away from all the people around her.

"Well, I'm heading up, so I'll have to talk to you later…" Sora said, stepping towards the door to the elevator, and then much to her dismay the neighbor stepped forward as well.

"Well, I happen to be heading up as well, so we won't have to part so soon." She said with a smile, and Sora struggled to return the smile.

"Great." Sora said as the two walked onto the elevator. The door closed, and the neighbor started to fill the silence with meaningless chitchat, until she hit upon the very topic that had Sora so upset.

"…So are you going to the memorial tomorrow Sora?" She asked, and Sora looked straight at her. She'd been staring absentmindedly at the wall of the elevator, responding to her neighbor whenever it seemed appropriate, but that question had grabbed her full attention.

The neighbor actually took a step back at the look in Sora's eyes. There was a deep sadness in them, but also a little anger at the question.

"Of course I will." Sora said very quietly, and the neighbor had to think a little as to what could cause the reaction in the young woman in front of her. Then she remembered the fact there were two memorials the next day, one for the thousands of people who had died three years before, and another, smaller and much more private one, held for the person who had stopped the deaths, at the cost of his own life.

Luckily for the neighbor the elevator had reached their floor, and both got off of the elevator. The neighbor actually seemed to realize she had said something to upset Sora, because she put a hand, that she hoped was comforting, on Sora's shoulder which she squeezed. Sora gave her best fake smile, and the two went their separate ways.

It didn't take long for Sora to reach the door she was looking for, but she didn't just walk in. She first looked at the door, and went over many of the memories she had of the door, and things that had happened in front of and around it. A single tear went down the side of her cheek, and Sora quickly wiped it away.

_I will not cry,_ Sora thought desperately to herself, trying to keep the rush of tears those memories brought to her from rushing out. She almost managed it too, until her eyes caught side of the plaque on the side of the door.

Very simply it read, **The Kamiya's**, and right below that five little stick figures were arranged. The two farthest to the left were obviously supposed to be the parents, while on the far right were two figures supposed to be the daughters. Neither of those made Sora cry, it was the single figure in the middle, representing a son, that made Sora finally break down and start crying.

Inside an apartment, a young high school age girl paced. She was dressed in a pink sweater, and cream colored pants. Her brown hair went down below her shoulders, and she was wearing a camera around her neck. Her name was Kari Kamiya.

"Where could she be?" Kari says to the two creatures sitting on the sofa. "Where could she be?" Kari repeated as she kept pacing. The two creatures, Gatomon, a white cat like digimon who was Kari's partner, and Biyomon, a pink bird like digimon who was partnered with Sora, looked at each other in concern. This time of year wasn't good for any of the humans who made up the digidestined, but their partners always seemed to take it the worst.

"Kari, I'm sure she'll be here any second. Anyways, Sora is a big girl; she lives by herself at college all year long!" Biyomon tried to get Kari to snap out of her pacing, but Kari just kept pacing, talking to herself.

Then Biyomon looked at Gatomon, trying to get some help, but Gatomon just shook her head. "She's probably right. It's not really good for any of them, especially Sora and Kari to be alone right now…"

Biyomon shrugged, accepting Gatomon's point. None of the human digidestined had been the same since the events that had taken place three years before. All of them had been changed that day, some more than others. Luckily they were able to go about their daily routines most of the time, at least three years later they were, but the three year anniversary brought all of the bad memories back to the front of everyone's minds.

Kari and Sora were easily the two digidestined who were the most changed when they hit the anniversary; at least that's what had happened the last two years. Kari's pacing and being worried was actually an improvement. At least she wasn't just crying.

Biyomon sighed and flew up. It wasn't like they were the only two affected. All the digidestined were hurt and sad, along with their digimon, they had all lost a close friend that day. Biyomon decided to get a bit of air in the hall way, figuring that it would be a good place to think a little bit.

As she opened the door she heard someone sobbing, and looked down, and saw…

"SORA!" Biyomon shouted, dropping the foot or so she needed to get to the ground. Sora was sobbing uncontrollably and Biyomon tried to comfort her friend, with an arm around her shoulder.

Kari came running out of the apartment, followed by Gatomon, and helped Sora into the apartment. Sora for her part just held onto Biyomon, crying into her shoulder. It took a few minutes, but Sora managed to get her tears under control and turn to Kari.

"Hi Kari." Sora said to the younger girl, who wrapped her up in a hug.

"Hey sis..." Kari replied, and Sora smiled a bit. Way back when Kari had always called her a sister, and had done it again when Sora had lived with the Kamiya's for a while. "Did you have anything else with you?"

"No, I figured I had enough stuff here…" Sora said looking around with a sad smile, which quickly disappeared. Kari looked where she was looking and saw that she was staring at the bedroom that Kari had used to inhabit.

Kari felt her own suppressed tears trying to burst out into the open. She grabbed ahold of Sora, who held her, and the two tried to comfort the other.

"Why's it so hard?" Sora asked no one in particular as the two girls sat there. "Why?"

Matt Ishida walked into the apartment complex where his brother and mother lived. He was dressed for the weather, wearing a brown jacket over a dark sweater, with khaki pants underneath. He was carrying a backpack on his back as he was planning on staying for a few days in Odaiba, something he hadn't done in a few years.

"Come on Gabumon!" Matt called to the small wolf like digimon that was following along behind him.

"I'm coming!" The digimon replied, trying to hurry up and catch his partner, only to run right into his partner, who had stopped suddenly.

Matt was staring at one of the televisions that were in the lobby, and Gabumon looked to see what was on that had caused Matt's reaction. When he saw it, Gabumon sighed. The screen showed a rather large digimon that was attacking downtown Tokyo, and the digidestined that were attempting to defeat it. Gabumon could make out the digivolved forms of his friends, who were attempting to stop the rampant digimon.

"Matt?" Gabumon called to his partner, whose eyes were glazed over as he stared at the TV. "MATT!" Gabumon tried again, and Matt shook out of his trance. He looked down at Gabumon and frowned.

"Sorry Gabumon, I guess that day still gets to me…" Matt said, voice trailing off at the end. Gabumon patted Matt's elbow (since he couldn't reach his shoulder).

"Its fine Matt, it happens to all of us this time of year. You should hear how bad Biyomon and Gatomon say Kari and Sora are…" Gabumon said, and stopped as Matt stiffened.

"I almost forgot about those two!" Matt exclaimed stopping and slapping his forehead. "They can't be in good shape right now; maybe we should go see them..." Matt said, talking to himself as much as Gabumon.

Gabumon looked at Matt, nodding as if he thought it was a good idea, but Matt remembered the awkwardness the last time he had seen those two. They didn't blame him for anything that had happened, but Matt blamed himself, and felt they should blame him.

He could barely talk to his ex-girlfriend, and his best friend's younger sister, because of the guilt over the events that had happened three years ago, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"This isn't fair in the least." Matt said quietly as he forced himself to continue up the stairs, towards his mother's apartment. _One dumb trip to America, and I can hardly talk to some of my closest friends anymore._ Matt thought to himself as he pushed open the door to the proper floor. Gabumon was still lagging behind, lacking Matt's long legs.

_It would probably help if I was around more often than just for this memorial, but I've got things to do…_ Matt thought to himself, and that thought sent his mind flying into the past.

~Flashback~

Matt walked around the Washington Mall and took pictures of everything around him. All of the other digidestined had told him to get a bunch of pictures of the Washington D.C. area while he was there with the Teenage Wolves for their latest recording gig.

Matt had found it a little odd that not only was the gig in America, but it was in the capital of America, not one of places you expect to have that done, especially for a foreign band. Matt had talked to Tai a little bit about it, but his big haired best friend had just laughed and told him to enjoy the opportunity to visit America. And of course to bring back lots of pictures.

"Hey Matt! Let's go check out this museum!" One of the other guys from the band shouted to Matt, who nodded, heading over to where his friend was.

The entire band went into the museum, enjoying the sights and having a good time. The drummer and one of the guitarist started messing around with the mannequins, much to Matt's horror, though the rest of the band was too busy laughing to care.

_That'll look great, why were you kicked out of the museum Matt? Oh nothing special, my idiot friends were just breaking everything in the museum._ Matt thought to himself, imagining the conversation back home as he tried to get the other players to stop.

After about ten minutes of chasing around the mannequin, they stopped and continued their tour, which was when they all noticed something was wrong.

"Hey, where is everyone?" One of the players asks, and everyone else shrugs. A minute of searching reveals most of the inhabitants of the museum are gathered around several of the TVs in the lobby. The Teenage Wolves walk up, and are completely stunned by the sight that greats them on the television.

On the screen Tokyo burns, and not just any part of it, but the district most of them live in, Odaiba. Matt looks on as another explosion wracks the already decimated landscape. The camera changes focus and Matt sees something that makes his entire body freeze.

There is a large creature that is causing most of the destruction, and Matt knows instantly that it's a digimon. That's not what makes him freeze. No the three people, and three digimon that are battling the digimon in close quarters is what makes him stop and stare.

They aren't doing so well. The attacking digimon is either ignoring most of them, or simply blasting them back away from it before returning to its destruction of the city.

One of the digimon, with his human partner close by him, was fighting harder than the rest, and Matt could only watch in horror as the event that would change him and the rest of the digidestined unfolded, and he was stuck far away from his friends, and any chance of helping them…

~UnFlashback~

"Matt!" A voice interrupted Matt's reminiscing, and he looked to see Gabumon shaking his arm, trying to get him to snap out of it.

"Sorry Gabumon, I got a little caught up in memories." Matt said in apology, and the wolf like digimon nodded in understanding.

"Well, let's just get to your mom's, I'm hungry!" Gabumon said to help Matt focus on getting to his mother's apartment, and Matt actually laughed. His digimon's constant hunger was a source of constant amusement and argument between the two friends. Matt would alternate between frustration at having to constantly provide food for Gabumon, and laughing at stomach ache that would follow him eating. The two walked the last few feet to the apartment, and opened the door.

"Mom! T.K.! I'm here!" Matt shouted out into the apartment. Gabumon peaked around Matt's leg, looking into the apartment. Matt saw his mother stick her head out from her little office and smiled at Matt.

"Hi dear. We weren't expecting you to get in so soon." She said, getting out of her chair and hugging her son.

"Yea, Traffics almost died down completely out there, so it took less time than I expected." Matt said gesturing out towards the greater Tokyo area in general.

"Well that's good dear; getting stuck in the traffic is never good." Mrs. Takashi said with a smile, which turned to a frown. "Unfortunately you just missed T.K., he was going over to the Kamiya's. You should head over there; I heard Sora just got back into town today as well."

Matt looked at her and swallowed. It wasn't that he didn't want to see his fellow digidestined, but he'd almost been avoiding most of them in general, and the ones he knew would be at the Kamiya's in particular, for a while. Matt knew it was time to grow up, and accept the fact that the events of three years ago hadn't been his fault, but he couldn't get rid of the sense of guilt he still had over being in America, away from his friends.

_Oh stop it you twit. _Matt thought to himself, arguing. _You weren't the only one who wasn't there, and at least you were on another continent. Go see your friends!_

_The others couldn't have done anything if they were there! I could have!_ The guilty side of him shot back.

_Bull shit! And you know it! Nothing would have changed, unless you think you could have changed the way he acted, which was impossible!_ The other half argued back, and Matt simply put a hand on his head, his internal conflict almost always caused him a headache.

Before he could decide his mother took the choice out of his hand.

"I know, I'll text T.K. and let him know you're coming!" She said, pulling out her cell phone. It took her a minute, but she got the message in and sent to T.K. "There, now you head over there, they're expecting you." She pushed Matt right back out of the door he had just entered and sent him on his way.

Two boys were arguing quietly as they quickly walked through an apartment building. They were of nearly identical height, but the similarities ended there. One was dressed in jeans and a jacket, and had a fairly messy look about his appearance. He had brown eyes, and his red hair was very spikey. Finally he had a pair of square goggles that were on top of his head.

The other boy could have been designed as the antithesis of the first one. The long shirt and slacks he was wearing were both very neat, just like the fisherman hat that was on top of his blond hair. His blue eyes reflected a bit of anger as he argued with his companion.

"Davis, you were the first person who got there, and the only person Kari and Sora ever told the entire story too." T.K. Takashi told his companion. "In short you're the best person to do it."

"Ah, T.K.!" Davis Motomiya said back, "you've used that argument the last two years!" Davis knew he had already lost the discussion, but he was arguing for arguments sake.

"That doesn't make it any less true Davis. Anyways, you're the best person to do it. Other than Sora or Kari you knew him best and well…" T.K. trailed off, leaving unsaid what would happen if either of those girls went up.

Davis sighed. In truth he wouldn't allow anyone else to do what had become his job over the last two years, he and T.K. were having this conversation really to just fill up the time, until they arrived…

The two boys stopped in front of an apartment's door, one that was very familiar to the both of them, since T.K.'s girlfriend and one of Davis's best friends happened to live there. The two shared a look, and Davis shrugged, banging his fist against the door.

There was a muffled noise from the other side of the door, and the two boys shared a look, just as T.K.'s phone went off. T.K. pulled his phone out as the door opened to reveal Kari Kamiya, who looked surprised to see Davis and T.K.

"Hi Kari!" Davis said loud and obnoxiously, something he did just because it annoyed Kari.

She narrowed her eyes at Davis like she normally did, and then just seemed to not care. Davis was grinning, but stopped when he got a good look at Kari's face. She looked like she'd been crying, Davis realized, and immediately went from messing with you friend mode, to your upset and I'm here to help you friend mode.

"Kari…" Davis said, in his now normal and much more serious voice. Kari just shook her head and opened the door up for the two boys. T.K. had gotten off his phone and was wearing a near mirror of Davis's concerned expression as the two entered the apartment.

The table was covered in a mess of used tissues and sitting at the table was Sora Takenouchi.

"Sora!" The two said in near perfect unison, both putting a smile on their faces. Sora put a sad smile on in reply to their greeting, and though it wasn't a big one it was a real one at least.

"Hey guys, long time no see." She hugged the two of them and the four sat around the table. Davis and T.K. knew the two girls were anything but good, but the four managed to get a nice conversation going, talking about what they had been up to the last half year or so since the last time Sora had been home from college. It mostly consisted of Sora telling them about college, and Kari, T.K. and Davis filling her in on their lives. A lot of those events were the same, as they were three close friends that did almost everything together.

Eventually Matt showed up, and everyone was happy to see him, much to his surprise. Soon after that the rest of the digidestined started to arrive. By ones and twos they all made it to the Kamiya's that afternoon, and all for the same reason. Comfort with friends, friends who had all lost the same thing. They talked for hours, catching up with each other, and their lives since many had not seen each other for ages. They talked well into the night only leaving when Mrs. Kamiya finally had most of them leaving, reminding them they had an early morning the next day.

That sobered the rather good mood in an instant. Being reunited with their friends had allowed most of the digidestined to not think about what the next day was, and forget the one conspicuous absence from their numbers.

Sora slowly got out of the car and put on her best emotionless face. She was pretty sure any of her close friends wouldn't be fooled by the face, but the many reporters gathered outside the entrance to the special section of the park would be easily fooled by the expression on her face.

The expression said to every single one of the reporters that Sora was not someone who wanted to be bothered with questions right now. The little pink bird that walked along behind Sora just reinforced the point, glaring at any reporter that looked like it wanted to ask Sora a question. None of the reporters wanted to piss of that bird; after all they all knew exactly who the statue in the park was of.

At this point Sora saw the statue, and took a deep breath. That statue was the reason that Sora never came to this park, the one she had grown up playing soccer with her best friend, anymore. The statue really was a magnificent one, if you could ignore the sentimental part of it for Sora and just look at the artistic side of it.

It was very realistic, showing the destroyed landscape of Odaiba in nearly perfect detail, Sora knew this as she had been there herself when the damage was caused. Flying above the landscape, at least it was supposed to be flying, this is a statue after all, was a magnificent four winged bird digimon. Stars were flying from each of the wings, connecting it with an oddly shaped digimon. This digimon had rounded arms, legs, and a torso, all connected by thin strips of flesh that were its arms and legs.

It was falling back as the stars impacted it, falling away from a crater it had just created, and the crater is where Sora's eyes lingered. This was the one part where the artist had departed from an exact image of the scene, or at least as realistic as Sora and Kari could remember. Inside the crater, lying on the ground a human and a digimon lay side by side. Their faces were almost peaceful, unlike what their faces must have been like at this moment.

The digimon was a powerful dragon warrior, the Dragon of Courage himself. His strong Chrome Digizoid Armor was broken and cracked all over, a testament to the battle he had fought, and the blast he had just taken. The boy, or young man since he was at the age where the line between the two blurred, was also scrapped up, though not as bad as his partner. His big mass of brown hair was depicted as being up, though it hadn't been that day, and the goggles on his head were broken, their lenses cracked completely.

Above the crater, in fact where they had just been pushed out of the way of a deadly blast by the two who were now in the crater (though in real life their bodies had been incinerated by the blast), were two girls, in fact if you looked for a second you'd realize that the girls looked exactly like a younger version of Kari and Sora.

There's a reason for this, and that of course is the fact that it is a younger version of Kari and Sora, three years younger exactly.

Sora felt a tear fall down her cheek as she looked at the statue, and especially the two in the crater. She felt someone come and stand next to her, and knew immediately that it was, Kari, the only one who would know exactly how she felt.

The two stared at the statue, focusing on the two in the crater who had meant so much, who still meant so much even after all this time, and remembered. Not the horrible battle, or the bad times that had happened in their lives before it, but rather all of the good times they had experienced beforehand, the times they chose to remember.

Eventually they took their seats, along with the others who formed the select party here. The city had its own memorial every year for the thousands who had died three years before, but the digidestined held their own, much more select and private, memorial for the leader who had died to save them.

Davis walked slowly up to the podium that had been set up. The ten other digidestined, along with their families, and various friends they had made over the years, all watched Davis walk to the podium. Davis had been selected, since he was the leader of the digidestined now, among other reasons, to recount the events of that day. The digidestined did not enjoy relieving their bad memories, but they had all agreed that this was something that should not be forgotten.

Davis took a deep breath and looked out at the many gathered friends and acquaintances that were here, and at the television cameras in the back that were broadcasting this live to the larger memorial being held for the people of the city, not to mention the majority of the rest of the world. Davis turned from the cameras, as much as the world wanted him to look at them, there were honestly more important things to watch as he spoke.

Davis looked right at the ten digidestined gathered in the front row, and smiled sadly, an expression that was mirrored in each of their faces.

"Well, we all know why we're here." Davis started. "Three years ago another evil digimon emerged into our world, and once again the digidestined were called upon to defend this city." Davis looked around, then back at the speech he had spent days preparing. "And once again our leader Tai Kamiya led the charge in defending our city, only this time it would cost his life to keep the city safe…"

_Well that was…emotional. Anyone confused yet? Because that's about where you should be. Hopefully it's enjoyable though, anyways until next time! Oh yea, one more thing, reviews. They are really nice. So please review if you had the opportunity =)._

_Review Replies:_

_Melovingyou: Thanks! And this is a crossover, but not the cross over…I've kinda stalled on that one. Too many projects. I'll try and get something together for it soon though!_

_Edasama:Thanks!_

_TaioraWarrior: Yea, hopefully I can keep that up. Why weren't you going to read this at first? And thanks!_

_DephsXylex: thanks…and did you like the affect this had on the others?_

_Ellabell: Thanks!_


	3. But life goes on

_So here we are with the next chapter. It's actually a little weird for me to be updating in the middle of the week like this…I'm so used to updating every Sunday, oh well, I bet you guys are excited. Ok enough ranting from me on with the story!_

_*cough cough*DISCLAIMER!*cough cough*_

…_oh yea, I still are not owning digimon…almost got away with it…_

**Act 1 Arrival**

**Chapter 2 …But life goes on.**

In the park that the digidestined had once called their own, and was now abandoned by that same group thanks to a certain statue, a bright light suddenly lights up the night.

A green portal of sorts, covered in data, opened up shooting lightning all over the ground. Out of the hole creatures started to fall. First just a couple, but eventually over four dozen had come through, and they fanned out in the park, forming a defensive circle.

"Open up a portal, it's not safe for us here." A tall digimon ordered. A flash of the lightning from the portal light up the group and the tall digimon's features were revealed. He was covered in what looked like a biking suit and had a tail that was flickering behind him. He had two red eyes that surveyed the park around him, and what looked like a closed third one on his forehead. On his hips was a pair of shotguns that his hands hung just above. Around him were many evil looking digimon, and one that looked like a rather large teddy bear.

One of the other digimon turned to the one who had spoken. "Lord Beelzemon, why do we need to open a portal? No one would dare attack us!" The digimon declared.

Beelzemon looked at the digimon and shook his head. Fast as a flash of lightning he had grabbed ahold of the digimon and lifted him off of the ground.

"Don't question my orders!" Beelzemon spat at the digimon, and then tossed him across the park and into a tree. "Follow them!" The rest of the digimon all cowered down as the one who had been thrown returned. "Now get the portal open."

~Kamiya Residence~

Sora walked out into the living room at her home and smiled at Kari sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal still in her pajamas.

"Morning!" Sora said cheerfully. It had been two weeks since the memorial and things were starting to return to normal. One good thing about that day, if anything about it was good, was that it had happened to fall on the winter holidays. Sora shuddered thinking about how bad things would happen if she was not with her family on that day and it's anniversary.

"Hi Sora!" Kari replied cheerfully as well. Sora sat down quickly getting her own bowl of cereal. The two munched in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Kari spoke again.

"So Sora, what do you want to do today?" She asked as she entered the kitchen to wash her dishes.

Sora followed, having also finished her breakfast. "Well, Mimi said she wanted to go shopping, and tricked me into going along…" Sora trailed off suggestively, and Kari laughed.

"No way, I am not going shopping with Mimi!" Kari said as she laughed, and Sora put on a disappointed face.

"Please Kari! You've got to help me, I don't know if I'll be able to survive!" Sora said desperately, causing Kari to laugh some more.

"Ok ok, but I reserve the right to leave if I want. I remember how shopping with Mimi goes." Kari said and both girls laughed.

It took them awhile to get dressed an all ready to go, but eventually they were all set, and headed out the door. They were going to meet up with Mimi at Venus Fort down in Palette Town. They grabbed their purses, chatting as they headed to the door.

Kari opened the door for Sora who walked out, running right into the charging T.K. and Davis. The three got a little tangled up, and Davis and T.K. both started shouting.

"No! he's getting away!"

"Get off me! The guys running!"

Kari looked at the three confused, and as Sora got untangled she did as well. Especially once Davis took of down the hallway, and T.K. was looking like he desperately wanted to do the same.

"T.K.!" Kari called to her boyfriend, and he stopped the almost running after Davis.

"Sorry," He said, pulling his hat off of his head, "There was some guy standing outside of your door in a trench coat. Davis and I tried to see who he was, but he ran off before we could see. And Sora got a little tangled with us before we could get to him."

"Well, why does it matter? Maybe he was a relative, or a neighbor." Kari asked, though she knew none of her relatives, or any of her neighbors for that matter, had ever worn a trench coat.

"Well…" T.K. said, turning nervously away from the two, "Our digivices went crazy when we saw him." Kari and Sora both looked at him with new concern in their faces. Their digivices went off for only one of three reasons: a digimon, a digidestined, or a danger to either of those things.

"So this guy could be a digidestined." Kari tried to reason.

"He didn't have a digimon with him." Patamon, T.K.'s digimon said, sticking his head out of T.K.'s backpack.

"Yea! I couldn't smell a digimon anywhere!" DemiVeemon, Davis's partner said from Davis's dropped backpack.

All three of the digidestined looked concerned, and decided among themselves to wait until Davis returned to make any sort of conclusions.

After about five minutes Davis came walking up from behind them, completely out of breath.

"Did you manage to catch him?" T.K. asked impatiently, and Davis shook his head, still panting. "Well why not?" T.K. asked, angrily, and before Davis could reply Kari stepped between the two.

"T.K. calm down, I'm sure Davis did the best he could, just give him a second." She told her boyfriend, who nodded, and looked over her shoulder to Davis.

"Sorry Davis, I'm just a little concerned." T.K. tells him, and Davis finally speaks.

"It's ok T.K.," He says, his panting now mostly under control. "I am too." The two of them grab Patamon and DemiVeemon and go inside the Kamiya's apartment with Kari and Sora, just to be sure they're not being watched.

"He was fast, wicked fast, and he knew the building better than I did." Davis said, as the other digidestined asked how the unknown person had managed to get away.

"Do you think it was a digimon?" T.K. asked, and Davis shrugged.

"I don't know it seemed more human than digimon." Davis said, and the others looked around concerned. Then Sora's cell phone went off. She pulled it out, checking the caller ID, and mumbled a curse as she answered it.

"Hi Mimi?...Yea I know…yea, we ran into a little bit of a problem…no we're not trying to avoid you, why would we do that?...Davis said that I said what about you and shopping?" Sora looked at Davis, who gulped, and started edging towards the door, only to stop as Sora gave him an even bigger glare. "Ok Mimi, we'll be there in a few minutes…we're leaving now." Sora looked at Davis, and then shrugged, "I'll deal with you for that later Davis."

The four left the apartment, deciding being on the move at Palette Town was better than staying in the apartment, so they all went together. Little did they know they were being closely watched, by more than one person.

~Venus Fort~

Sora had a suspicious feeling that she was being watched, and she didn't like it one bit. She was with Kari, Mimi, T.K., Davis, and Izzy, who Mimi had dragged away from his computer to join them in the shopping much to Izzy's dismay, and Sora couldn't shake that feeling.

Of course it was more than normal, because everywhere the Digidestined went there were people staring at them, after all the Digidestined were not only world famous, but they had saved this city dozens of times, so they attracted a lot of attention. Then there were the two digimon that were with them, so needless to say their group was a one with a lot of people watching them, but Sora still couldn't shake this feeling, which was much stronger than normal.

"I think we're being watched." Sora said to Kari as the two looked at some clothes just outside a store. Mimi was buried somewhere in the store, while the three boys, and the two digimon, were out by the fountain in the center of the room.

"Sora, we're always being watched. I thought you'd gotten used to that." Kari said, not getting what Sora was saying, thinking she was just getting upset about the people who would normally stare at the digidestined.

"That's not what I mean Kari." Sora said, and Kari looked up from the pants she was looking at. "I think someone is following us, and actually watching at us, not just the normal stuff." Sora then looked back down at the rack of clothing.

Kari just stared at her for a moment longer, and then took a look around the room they were in. It really was a beautiful room, with a cloud covered roof, and the Venice themed shops giving it the feel of actually being in Italy, or so Kari thought since she had never visited there.

There were hundreds of people gathered there, after all it was one of Odaiba's biggest attractions, especially if you needed to go shopping. There were local people, other people who made a special trip from other parts of Tokyo, and even a few dozen tourists.

Kari turned back to Sora. "Are you serious?"

"Yea," Sora mumbled, still seeming to pay attention to the clothes rack, "Try to act like you're not suspicious, at least until we find whoever is following us." Kari started to nod, but stopped herself and went back to observing the rack.

A few minutes later Mimi came out of the store, arms filled with bags, which she quickly added to the (already huge) pile the boys were carrying.

"Ok time for a new store!" Mimi declared, and all three of the boys groaned.

"Oh come on Mimi, you've already bought an entire new wardrobe! What else could you need?" Davis said exasperatedly as he picked up the bags he was responsible for.

"Shoes!" Mimi exclaimed, and both Kari and Sora laughed at the expressions on the boys faces. Sora looked away from the group as the three boys sweat-dropped, trying to not laugh right in the boys faces, and that's why she saw him.

He was standing unobtrusively on the far side of the mall, and Sora didn't really know why her eyes were drawn to him. Maybe it was the tan trench coat he was wearing, but Sora wasn't really thinking about that, no the main feature that she noticed was his wild hair and the pair of goggles perched on his head. Only one person she had ever known had that look about them.

Sora turned and grabbed Kari's arm, turning her to face where the man had been standing, only in the brief second that Sora had turned he had disappeared.

"What is it Sora?" Kari asked as she was spun around. Sora frantically looked at all of the people shopping in that area, and couldn't find the man anywhere.

"Sora?" Kari asked again, and Sora shook her head.

"I must be seeing things…" Sora mumbled to herself more than anyone else.

"Sora!" Kari exclaimed for a third time, finally getting Sora's attention.

"Sorry Kari," She said, "I thought I saw a ghost." Sora turned and started to walk away, while Kari looked at her in surprise. She ran up and grabbed Sora's arm.

"What do you mean a ghost?" Kari asked, but before she could reply there was a very loud, and very insistent beeping coming from six sources. Kari and Sora both pulled out their digivices, which were going off like crazy, while the other four, still by the fountain did the same.

"Oh, no not again…" Kari said looking at the digivice. Then they all heard a swooping noise, as if something was flying through the air at a high velocity. Sora and Kari turned to see a giant blue dog jumping down from one of the upper levels, heading straight for them.

"DemiVeemon!" Davis shouted, dropping the boxes he had just picked up. His little partner jumped out of his backpack, and Davis's digivice started to glow.

"DemiVeemon digivolve to! Veemon!" The little DemiVeemon grew in size as he digivolved to his rookie form, Veemon.

"Patamon you too!" T.K. shouted, and the two rookies jumped towards the dog.

"Boom Bubble! PA!" Patamon shot a burst of air right at the dog, which simply ignored it.

"Vee Head-butt!" Veemon shouted, ramming into the dog, seconds before it would have landed on Kari and Sora. The dog was thrown along the ground until it hit one of the other shops, stopping it. Veemon was walking around his eyes spinning, apparently a little dazed from the head-butt. Davis and T.K. ran over to where their digimon, and Sora and Kari, were looking at the digimon.

"You have any idea who that is?" Davis asked the two digimon, both of whom shook their heads.

"I've never seen him before!" Patamon said as he floated above the scene. Now that the dog wasn't flying through the air they could get a good look at him. His blue fur had strange red markings on his body, and tail, while around his head were purple armor plates, and what looked like bat wings. Finally his paws looked like blades rather than standard paws.

Izzy and Mimi ran up to join them, and the six digidestined, and two digimon, though Veemon still a little woozy, faced the digimon.

"Black Mind!" The digimon shouted, and waves of dark energy flew out from the digimon and hit Patamon and Veemon, who were thrown back and away from the group, both of them dedigivolving as they hit the far side of the room.

"Foolish digidestined, did you really think two rookies could stop me? Now I will have the pleasure of destroying you!" The digimon growled at them, and then started advancing towards them.

The six digidestined slowly backed away from the digimon, who was laughing as they did so. The older digidestined had left their digimon at home giving them time off from running around with them, so Veemon and Patamon had been their only line of defense.

"Gargo Pellets!" A voice shouted, just before dozens of green bolts of energy impacted around the digimon, causing it to jump away from the digidestined. The bolts followed it all the way back to its starting point.

"Show yourself!" The digimon shouted to the (now) mostly deserted shopping center.

A laugh echoed through the building, and the digimon froze as it heard the laugh. Then its eyes narrowed. "So you made it through alive, just like Lucemon predicted. Well you're too late! The digidestined will all die, starting with these six!"

The digimon turned towards the digidestined, who had been backing away slowly, only to freeze as the dog digimon turned right to them. "Black Mind!" It fired its powerful attack right at the digidestined, who had nothing behind which to hide.

"Digi-modify!" A voice rang out in the open room. "WarGreymon's Brave Shield Activate!"

The digidestined all closed their eyes as the blast got closer, and then they heard the explosion as it hit.

_Wow that was a lot less painful than I expected…_ Sora thought to herself. She hadn't felt anything when the blast had hit her. _This must have been how it was for Tai. I guess I'll get to see him now at least._

"No!" A voice shouted, and Sora was a little surprised because it sounded exactly like the digimon that had just killed her and her friends. _Now why would he be still talking if we were all dead?_

"Black Mind! Black Mind!" The voice persisted in shouting, and Sora finally had to open her eyes, and she was in for an even bigger shock than being dead. She wasn't dead. In fact not only was she not dead, but standing in front of her, holding what looked like the shield that WarGreymon carried on his back, was an Agumon, and it was catching every single one of the blasts from the digimon.

Standing just behind the Agumon, between the digimon and the digidestined in fact, was someone Sora was pretty sure she'd never seen before, or rather never met before. She couldn't see any of his features, but the tan trench coat he was wearing, not to mention the mass of hair on his head, shouted that it was the person who Sora had seen across the room earlier.

His big hair really did remind her of the way Tai's hair had been. It was almost the exact same style, just longer that it had been, but it couldn't be Tai. Despite how much Sora wished it wasn't true Tai had been killed three years ago, so this was just some guy with the same hair style.

He seemed to be looking through something in his hands, and Sora can't get a good look at whatever it was in his hands. Whatever it was he had been looking through he seemed to make a decision about it, putting whatever he didn't need into his jacket. As he put them onto his jacket, Sora could see that they are some sort of cards, but that doesn't really make any sense.

"Digi-Modify!" He shouted, and Sora's took a deep breath, because she knew that voice. Knew it at least as well as her own, because even when she didn't think about it, it was in her dreams. _That is impossible…_ "Angewomon's Celestial Arrow Activate!" Sora saw him swipe the card through a device on his arm, one that looked like a digivice on crack, and suddenly Agumon moved. He planted the shield into the ground so it was still covering the digidestined, then jumped up into the air. As he jumped into the air, a pair of what looked like wings sprouting from his arms.

"Celestial Arrow!" The Agumon shouted, and much to Sora's surprise a white arrow, identical to the one Angewomon used in her attacks appeared, and the Agumon fired the pure white arrow right at the digimon. It hit the digimon, who shouted in pain just before bursting into data.

Sora didn't really care that much, because she couldn't stop staring at the back of the person who had just saved her, and the other digidestined.

"Tai?" Sora said, not really being thinking about anything else but the voice that she was certain was her long dead best friend's. The other digidestined were all starting to realize that they weren't dead, and to see the person standing in front of them, with his back turned.

He turned slightly, as if trying to get a look at Sora, and Sora was able to see part of his face, which only confirmed what she already knew. Tai Kamiya was somehow standing right in front of her, despite the fact that he had been killed three years ago.

"Tai?" Sora asked again, getting to her feet. "Is that really you? How is this possible?" Sora took a step towards him, and he bolted. He straight up sprinted away from the digidestined. Sora was frozen in place for a second then took off after him.

Sora's mind was running at a thousand miles an hour as she attempted to catch him. _Why is Tai running from me? _

_Wait! Why isn't he dead? I saw him die!_

_Who cares! He's alive! Be happy!_

_Yea he's alive and running way faster than us and away from us!_

He was just too fast for Sora, and had too much of a head start for Sora to catch up with him. Sora was quickly out of breath, and had to stop.

"Tai wait!" Sora shouted with the last of her breath, and he actually stopped for a second, and then just continued running. "Tai!" Sora called desperately as he ran right out of sight. Sora sank down and felt tears start to come down her cheeks.

_Why did he run? _Sora thought to herself in despair. Her best friend and the one person who she had wanted to see for the longest time was right here, but he ran away.

There was a sound of people running and the other five digidestined finally caught up with Sora, who was panting and crying on the ground. Kari and Mimi both walked up on either side of Sora.

"Why did he run away?" Sora asked after a few minutes of silence, and neither of the girls had a response for Sora.

_Well there we go, another chapter up, and the plot thickens, Beelzemon is in the Digidestined's world, a digimon attacked them, and Tai's alive, things are starting to get crazy. _

_A small note to everyone who's wondering how Tai can digimodify…just go with it. He'll inform the digidestined soon enough (or not soon)and everything will be clear. There is a reason for everything, so please just go with it if you think this is crazy, it'll all make sense in the middle when everything is explained. Until next time!_

_Review Replies:_

Ellabell: yea I know right, poor Sora, and yea, thanks!

z1a1c1h1: Thanks! And I will as soon as I finish writing.

TaioraWarrior: ok that makes sense, and thanks for the faith in me, I'll try not to disappoint! And yea I realized that I really do that for Davis, but it's my compensation I think. There are too many stories that just make Davis into a pointless idiot, and I don't really like that. Feel free to criticize me, as long as it's not just bashing you have every right!

Melovingyou: Well you saw a little in this, but Tamers and Data Squad. This story will have some concepts from both, and the add ons to this story will have full up cross overs.

Melodisz: haha no worries, I really liked the idea too, hence why I wrote this lol, and thanks!

Edasama: No worries! And was this brief teasing of Tai decent enough?

Supershooter: Thanks! I'll try not to disappoint, and it will focus on Taiora, though I don't think they will actually become a couple for a while, also the Takari will probably get some focus as the story progresses, but this is mostly about Tai, so it'll focus on the Taiora.


	4. I Just Can't

_Well it's been a really busy week for me, but I've got a nice little update here, and we get to see a little bit of how Tai's viewing this. Hopefully you guys enjoy this!_

_Disclaimer: I. DO. NOT. OWN. DIGIMON! Seriously!_

**Chapter 3 I Just Can't**

Tai Kamiya walked into the small hotel room that he had rented for his and Agumon's use, though he wasn't sure how long exactly he would need to use it.

_I meant to get out of here and go home. Why is something so simple so hard?_ Tai thought as he pulled his jacket off. The inside of this jacket held quite an odd assortment of trinkets. There was a deck of green and blue cards, and that was the most normal looking thing in the jacket. There was what looked like a tool set, but the tools weren't anything you would ever find in a Home Depot. There were a number of other objects all of which looked like they served some specific purpose.

Tai was now wearing just his blue shirt with the faded stars, and you could actually see his belt. Another, much smaller deck of the same type of cards was right on his belt in easy reach of his hand whether he was wearing his jacket or not.

Tai kicked off his boots, and collapsed into the chair pointing the device on his arm towards the empty space in the middle of the room. There was a flash of light and Agumon appeared in the middle of the room.

"Tai! Why do I always have to go into that stupid contraption?" Agumon asked in a whiney voice, and Tai put on a small smile.

"Well Agumon, if you could run faster than you wouldn't have to." Tai told his partner, as he reclined in the chair. Agumon's eyes narrowed as he glared at Tai, then they opened and softened.

"Just why were we running away again Tai?" Agumon asked, and his partner sat up straight in his chair.

Tai sighed as he looked at his partner. "I told you earlier Agumon, this isn't easy for me."

~Flashback~

Tai walked very slowly up the stairs in the apartment building that he had lived in for most of his life, and a building he hadn't been in for over three years. Tai held on to the railings, almost as if he wasn't sure he was really there.

"You know Tai, the building isn't going to go anywhere if you hold onto it less tight." Agumon's voice said, and Tai rotated his left wrist so that the screen of the device on his wrist was facing him. Agumon's image was there, and his arms were crossed as he looked at Tai. Then his face split into a grin, and Tai shook his head at him. He didn't notice Agumon's face stop his grinning for a second.

"Tai?" He asked as Tai resumed his slow pace up the stairs.

"Yea Agumon?" Tai asked, seeing that he was only a floor or two from his own.

"How come you don't smile anymore?" The digimon asked, and Tai brought his wrist back up.

"What do you mean Agumon?" Tai asked, looking at his partner with an inquisitive look.

"Well, I haven't seen you really smile in a while, and I'm not talking about the little smile you use, I mean your smile." Agumon said, and Tai looked away, knowing what he was talking about. "In fact I haven't seen it since the battle at Lost Ford…" Agumon stopped as Tai looked at him dangerously.

Agumon had almost forgotten how badly hurt, mentally and emotionally, not physically, Tai had been from that battle, and how he didn't like talking about it.

"When I have something to really smile about, it'll come out Agumon." Tai said finally, actually answering the digimon's question, though Agumon wasn't surprised. Tai had grown up far more than three years in the time he had been gone, and it really showed in the way he acted, most of the time.

Tai finally reached the floor he was looking for, and Agumon was silent, knowing this was something for his partner to do. He walked down the hall way, and stopped in front of the door that led to his apartment.

The door was almost exactly how he remembered it. Even a few of the dents and scratches from where he had tried to go in before opening the door, much to Sora's, who had been with him constantly back then, amusement. There was the plaque with the family name on it, and then the little figures of the family. Tai's eyes were held by that image.

He had expected it to hold three people on it, but instead it held five. His parents of course were on the right, and next to them, and right where Tai remembered it being, was him. Tai reached out and lightly touched it, a single tear coming out of his eye as he saw the sentiment that his family obviously held still. Then his attention was drawn to the fifth figure. It was next to the one for his sister, and was a slightly taller girl, almost as if she was older.

_Who could this be? _Tai wondered to himself as he ran his finger over it. He then took a step back, and faced the door. _Ok, no problem, just open it up and you'll get to see mom and dad and Kari. They'll be thrilled to see you, and it'll be great._

_Or they won't be glad to see you at all. _A nasty little voice said in the back of his head.

_What? Why wouldn't they be happy to see me?_

_You know why, the same reason why no one else will be either, and the same reason the three betrayed you!_

Tai seemed to step back from the door, and Agumon, who was watching him through the device, saw the same expression that was on his face at the gate.

"Hey you!" Tai glanced over his shoulder, not showing his face but getting a good look at the people walking up, and promptly turned and ran away. Having watched how slowly Tai had climbed the stairs you would have been surprised at the sheer speed with which he moved. He was at the end of the hallway in a second and taking off down another quickly.

Tai knew the building very well, having grown up here, and was able to quickly lose any pursuit. He was breathing deeply as he stopped near one of the stairwells, and he seemed to think for a minute, leaning up against one of the walls. He seemed to come to a decision fairly quickly about what he was thinking about, and he took the stairs straight down to the ground floor, and excited the building through the side entrance. He headed around to the front of the building, and waited near the main entrance of the apartment just out of sight of the main doors.

"Tai?" Agumon asked quietly, knowing that Tai was trying to keep quiet.

"Yea Agumon?" Tai whispered back, watching the door.

"Why did you run from Davis and T.K.?" He asked, and Tai sighed internally. Agumon could see too much in his device.

"I…" Tai started but couldn't really continue, after all how to tell your best friend, who you had faced down quite literally countless evil digimon from the pits of hell that had been trying to destroy the two of them, that you were terrified of the people you cared about the most.

"I just can't do this Agumon…" Tai said, and before Agumon could ask why four people emerged from the door they were watching. Tai recognized all of them, and had to do his best as emotions he hadn't let himself feel for anyone in over a year rushed through him. The sight of his little sister and two of his closest friends was very nice, but it was really her that made his heart beat like it hadn't in quite a while.

Tai followed them at a discreet distance so they wouldn't be alerted to his presence.

~UnFlashback~

"I don't understand Tai." Agumon said, and Tai lowered his head. "You care for these guys, the digidestined, and our closest friends, more than anything. Why can't you go up to them? You don't have any problem saving them!"

~Flashback~

Tai entered Venus Fort with a small smile on his face. He had seen who the four had gone to meet up with, and the thought of the times Sora had complained about Mimi dragging her here for some reason or another. Tai watched the happy greeting between the six, and felt a twinge at not being able to be there with them.

_No, they wouldn't want to see you, remember that!_ The little voice said in his head again, and Tai shook his head, trying to get rid of it. This apparently made some of the people around him a little suspicious of him, because they started whispering, and glancing at him.

_Ok, time for a new location. _Tai thought to himself, following the digidestined. He was able to stay almost completely out of sight of the digidestined, and remain mostly inconspicuous to the rest of the crowd. He watched with a growing sense of amusement, another feeling he hadn't felt in a while, as Mimi steadily filled up Davis, T.K. and Izzy's arms with boxes, and Sora and Kari tried to contain their amusement.

Tai watched as the three boys, and the two digimon with them, all rested around the fountain while the three girls went to yet another shop. Tai leaned against one of the walls opposite the shop, and just watched.

"Tai, are they ever going to be done?" Agumon whined from his place. Tai let a slightly larger than normal smile color his face.

"Agumon, you obviously don't remember Mimi's shopping habits at all." Tai said, a small laugh managing to escape his lips.

"Wow Tai!" Agumon said, his face breaking into a grin, "I haven't heard you really laugh in a while. " Tai just shook his head, still smiling, which he really hadn't done in a while. _I guess it really is good to be home._ Tai thought to himself.

Kari and Sora came out of the store before Mimi, and spent some time looking at the items outside of the store. Tai couldn't really help but watch Sora, and see how content she looked.

_She and Matt are probably engaged by now…_ Tai thought with a bit of regret, regret for lost opportunities in the past. Kari and Sora continued to talk and shop, but Kari suddenly stopped, and looked around, while Sora obviously, at least to Tai, focused on the clothing rack.

As the two did this, there was a prickling on the back of Tai's neck, almost as if he could feel something else was out there. Tai had learned through long experience to trust that feeling. He unobtrusively pressed a few buttons on the device on his wrist, starting a scan.

When he turned back to Kari and Sora they were gone, and Tai panicked a little bit. Then he saw they had just met up with the boys, who were reluctantly picking up the many shopping bags they had. Davis, who Tai could see was still wearing the new pair of goggles Tai had gotten him for his birthday after Davis had returned Tai's, was saying something that caused the entire group to laugh, and for Sora to look right at him.

Their eyes meet for a second, and Tai's heart beat faster, but he knew he had to move. He couldn't come out yet, he wasn't ready to meet up with them, not yet. Sora turned to Kari, and Tai took the opportunity to duck into the store he was standing outside of.

Tai had barely taken a step into the store when his arm device went off, just like a digivice. Tai looked at it, and a circular screen appeared above it, showing information and a name for a digimon, one that Tai had fought before.

"Sangloupmon." Tai said, and heard loud insistent beeping coming from the promenade outside, in fact it sounded like six different beeping sounds. "Damn it, they're here." Tai said almost to himself, or so it seemed. He pressed another button on his device, and a cloud of data formed, turning quickly into Agumon.

"Tai?" He asked, and Tai nodded, pulling out a pair of the cards that were on his belt.

"Vee-Head-butt!" They heard just before there was a crashing sound outside, and Tai looked out, seeing Veemon hitting Sangloupmon. _Good work Davis!_

He turned to Agumon who was looking out the door where Sangloupmon, a blue dog like digimon, was standing facing Veemon and Patamon.

"What are you waiting for? Digivolve!" Tai said aloud, verbally coaching them, though they couldn't hear him.

"Black Mind!" Sangloupmon blasted Veemon and Patamon out of the way, and Tai cursed under his breath, as did Agumon.

"Digi-Modify! Gargomon's Gargo Pellets Activate!" Tai said as he swiped the card through the device on his wrist, which was linked to Agumon like a digivice of sorts.

Agumon's claws were covered in a pair of powerful looking Gatling guns, but Tai wasn't finished. As fast as he had swiped the first card he flipped the second and swiped it.

"Digi-Modify! Speed Boost Activate!" Agumon nodded at Tai, and jumped out into the promenade faster than the eye could see. Sangloupmon was preparing another attack, but Agumon beat him too it.

"Gargo Pellets!" Agumon sent a stream of blasts around Sangloupmon, who jumped back to avoid the powerful attack.

"Show Yourself!" Sangloupmon shouted to the room, hoping Agumon would come out, and Tai laughed a cold laugh, devoid of any humor, that many demon digimon had heard before dying. Sangloupmon froze as he heard that laugh, but then seemed to come to a decision.

"So you made it through alive, just like Lucemon predicted. Well you're too late! The digidestined will all die, starting with these six!" Sangloupmon shouted to the room, directed at Tai. Tai had a bad feeling about that shout and was reaching for another card as Sangloupmon shouted again. "Black Mind!" It shot its powerful attack right at the digidestined, who had nothing behind which to hide.

Tai pulled the card out of its pouch and swiped it in one fluid motion, shouting, "Digi-modify! WarGreymon's Brave Shield Activate!" Agumon's Gatling Guns were replaced by an exact replica of the shield that was worn on WarGreymon's back and he dove in front of the digidestined. Tai himself had also been rushing out. Six of the people he cared most about in several worlds were in danger and he wasn't going to sit there and do nothing.

He managed to make it in front of Sora and Kari, the closest to Sangloupmon, just as Agumon blocked the blast. Sangloupmon shouted as it saw its attack hadn't made it through.

"No!" He shouted, and then launched another pair of attacks. "Black Mind! Black Mind!" Agumon caught both blasts with the Brave Shield, and Tai pulled his wrist up, pulling the information about Sangloupmon up on his digivice.

_Hmmm, Demon Beast Digimon, Virus type, champion level. I got just the thing._ Tai pulled the larger deck out of his jacket, and started looking through it as the face off continued. He found the card he was looking for and put the rest away.

"Digi-Modify!" Tai shouted, and heard a deep breath drawn behind him, and realized that Sora had recognized his voice. "Angewomon's Celestial Arrow Activate!" Tai swiped the card, and Agumon went through another transformation, this time his left arm sprouting wings that formed the shape of a bow.

"Celestial Arrow!" Agumon called out, hitting Sangloupmon, who was deleted by the powerful attack.

Tai pressed a button on his digivice and Agumon became data and reentered the digivice, because Tai had the feeling he would need to get out of there quickly. He was about to leave when a voice he had been longing to hear for the longest time called out his name.

"Tai?" Sora called out, and Tai was frozen in place. Tai turned slightly, unable to help himself and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She was getting to her feet, looking right at him.

"Tai?" Sora asked again. "Is that really you? How is this possible?" Sora took a step towards him, and Tai bolted. He couldn't stay, as much as he wanted, as good as it was too see her and the others, it still brought up some bad memories and Tai couldn't deal with it in his current state.

He heard her running after him, and increased his speed. After a minute or so her footsteps stopped, and instead Tai heard her shout. "Tai Wait!" And Tai did stop, out of reflex, but he forced himself to run once more. "Tai!" Sora called desperately as he ran right out of sight.

~UnFlashback~

"I know Agumon," Tai replied to his partner, and looked almost shamefully at the ground. "But…" He seemed nervous talking about this subject, more nervous that Agumon had seen him in the ages. "But I can't forget happened at Lost Ford." Tai said, "I don't know if I can ever trust people like that again Agumon. Anyways, Sora probably doesn't want to see me ever again." Tai's head lowered as he said this, and Agumon put a comforting hand on Tai's shoulder and waited for him to calm down. It took a few minutes, because honestly as much as Tai had grown up the last three years, he had also been more emotionally traumatized and hurt than ever before in his life.

Tai finally calmed down, and Agumon felt he had to get his own opinion in, because Tai needed help whether he wanted it or not.

"Tai, the digidestined are your oldest friends; they would never do what the three did to you." Tai looked at his friend as he said this, but couldn't bring himself to believe him, but Agumon wasn't done, "And I think you should go and talk to Sora about the two of you. It's the only way you're ever going to get over it." Agumon said, hoping Tai would listen, but Tai just shook his head.

"Maybe tomorrow Agumon, but, I need a bit of rest right now." Tai said, and Agumon knew it was an excuse, but decided to play along.

"Ok Tai, good night!" Tai smiled, his now usual small smile, and entered the bedroom portion of the room. Agumon waited a few minutes before he heard Tai's breathing slow to a slower, deeper pace, and ever so quietly snuck out of the room.

It was a delicate operation since Tai was one of the lightest sleepers Agumon knew, or at least he had become that way, but he was able to do it. Agumon found a worn hoodie in Tai's stuff and put it on, slightly disguising himself.

He moved through the night life of Odaiba, which seemed to go on despite the recent attack on one of its most popular attractions, with upmost caution. Agumon shook his head at the humans around him, seemingly oblivious to the recent events that occurred in their town. He would never understand humans completely, but he knew that he would do anything to help Tai out, even if he himself was being the biggest problem.

Agumon had Tai to thank for being alive at this point, at least as much as Tai had him to thank for the same thing. Agumon may have done most of the fighting, but Tai had made new and powerful friends who had helped the two of them become stronger than ever before, and that had been important to their success. So Agumon was willing to do anything for him.

He entered a building, and it was late enough that no one seemed to care, and made his way to the floor he was looking for. Then he found himself outside the door he was looking for, and taking a breath knocked on it.

There was a long pause, and then some shuffling of feet and the door slowly opened.

"No we don't want to buy any of what you're selling…Agumon!"

"Hi Sora."

_Duh duh duh! Well there we go, some of Tai's perspective, or rather his perspective on the last chapter. Hopefully you guys enjoyed, and if you're wondering, no Tai isn't actually insane, think of the voice in his head as more of a defensive mechanism. You'll find out more about that, and the three (if any of you picked up on that) in a chapter or two, so keep reading =). Till next time! Oh last thing. The whole storing in the digivice thing, that's a concept from Data Squad if you're wondering. I thought it was cool, so Tai got it. (you'll see me doing that a lot in this story)_

_crestoflight3: Thanks! And yea Tai's back, but some past event is keeping him from meeting up with the DD. Wonder if he'll get the chance to be happy?_

"_cheese": Seriously? You couldn't come up with a better anonymous name than cheese? Ok that's my return poke, so addressing your concerns. I actually didn't underpower Veemon or Patamon. It has been proven that A) Patamon is completely ineffectual vs any Champion level digimon (see. Any time Patamon fights) while B) Veemon is able to knock Champion level digimon away with his Vee-Headbutt. (See. Battle vs Wendigomon in digimon the movie) so neither of them was underpowered. That being said, you are quite correct in stating that there was nothing stopping them from digivolving. They could have, if they were faster off the mark, or T.K. and Davis were. In the show (at least in my opinion) the DD were often a little slow to digivolve or digivolve to the right level, though the only time they paid for that was when they fought Infermon. This story is using the fact that they are a little slow as part of the plot. You'll see that eventually, so keep reading, and hopfully things will be more realistic for you. (oh and last thing, of course they got knocked out so Tai could save the day, but it was also for a logical reason. I needed a way to get him in there, and this makes the most sense. You'll see that Tai is there as a protector for the DD, so he was doing his job.) Sorry if this is a little long of a rant…_

_TaioraWarrior: Thanks! And yea, always have to have that stupid little PA! and I actually find it funny that your last review said that I could look forward to long reviews and then this one was rather short…(not complaining, just found that amusing lol)…oh and one more thing, your PM feature isn't working. I tried to respond to your message, or send any message, but it says your PMing is disabled._

_day dream world: Thanks! Hope you keep loving it!_

_Edasama: Thanks! And I will!_

_Ellabell: They will, in addition to the DATS guys. I don't know if it'll be this specific story or its sequel, but the tamers will eventually arrive._


	5. Some of The Truth Comes Out

_Ok, so this is the longest chapter yet, so hopefully that will make up for the longer than normal delay. So hopefully you guys will enjoy this, especially since it should answer some questions for you._

_Disclaimer: I Own Digimon. That's why this is actually a tv show and not something on . (That's sarcasm, just in case you guys didn't get it! Lol)_

**Chapter 4 (Some of) The Truth Comes Out, and Getting Some Help**

Sora and the rest of the digidestined walked slowly back towards their homes. They stayed in a group, with Patamon and Veemon ready to go in case they were attacked again by anyone.

"Sora, how can you be sure?" Mimi was asking as they walked closer to Izzy's house. That was their first stop, and the rest of the digidestined in the Tokyo area would be meeting them there. They had decided a meeting was necessary to talk about what had happened, and the possibility of a new series of attacks, as well as other things.

"Mimi, it was Tai. I'm pretty sure I would recognize him if I saw him." Sora said rather sharply, and immediately regretted that. "Sorry Mimi, I didn't mean to snap." Sora said in apology, and Mimi squeezed Sora's shoulder as they walked.

"It's ok Sora, I'm sure your emotions are more than a little in edge from that…encounter." Mimi said smiling at Sora who smiled back.

They continued walking and while the girls discussed Tai's return, the guys were discussing Tai's method of fighting.

"…But how did he do it?" T.K. asked, referring to the Digi-Modifying.

"I don't know T.K." Izzy said, and his mind was racing at over a hundred miles, this situation had so many different angles to it, it wasn't even possible to think straight. "But whatever it is, it's very useful. It allowed Agumon, a Rookie-Level digimon to defeat whoever that guy was, and he had to be a Champion or Ultimate-Level digimon, and that would be very useful."

"Yea, yea, yea, but what about Tai? I mean he's back from the dead! How cool is that?" Davis asked his hands connected behind the back of his head, and both Izzy and T.K. felt a little guilty. They had been only thinking about the Digi-Modifying, and hadn't talked about the, possible, return of their friend.

"Davis, if that is Tai…" Izzy started, only to have Davis stop him.

"Izzy that had to be Tai. Didn't you see the goggles? And the way he ran was just how Tai used to run! Not to mention he had Agumon with him, and sounded just like him, and…" Davis started rattling off a dozen reasons why it had to be Tai, and Izzy held up his hands.

"Ok, Ok, it was Tai! I get it." Davis stopped talking and before Izzy could go on, T.K. jumped in.

"Well the thing I want to know is how he's alive. I mean he got killed three years ago right? We just had a memorial for him two weeks ago." T.K. said his voice low enough so it wouldn't carry to the girls, or more specifically Sora and Kari.

"That's what I was about to explain." Izzy said, in a very exasperated tone of voice. "I finally found some details out about the digimon that attacked the city." That shut both Davis and T.K. up instantly, and in fact stopped them in place.

"Why didn't you tell us that?" They shouted in complete unison, and the girls looked over in surprise.

"I just found out earlier today, and I was going to get everyone together to talk about it!" Izzy said, shouting as well as he got fed up with the badgering that he was getting. The girls had stopped their private conversation to look at the three boys.

"Talk about what Izzy?" Sora asked as the girls walked back to close proximity with the boys. Izzy took a deep breath, and told them what he had told Davis and T.K., earning him almost exactly the same response.

They shot out about a million questions in the space of a few seconds, and Izzy had to hold out his hands once more.

"Hold it!" He said loud enough for everyone to hear, and they did. "Everyone is heading to my apartment right now, and I don't want to have to explain this more than once, so please wait until we get there." Izzy pleaded with them, and Davis looked like he wanted to ask some more questions, but a look from Sora stopped him.

They continued to Izzy's apartment with little trouble, or conversation, everyone busy in thought. Izzy let them in, and everyone tried to find a place to sit that wasn't occupied by some gadget. Izzy had a small apartment that his parents had set up for him and his roommate just outside of the University of Tokyo's main campus when he started attending there. Usually they would have met at his parents apartment, where he was staying for the duration of his break, but his campus apartment was more convenient for them and the other digidestined right now.

The place wasn't exactly dirty, it was just cramped with dozens, if not hundreds, of different gadgets all having to do with either computers or the digital world. The fact that the gadgets were everywhere, and the fact that Izzy had a strict no touching policy, or in Davis's case a no going within 15 feet policy, made things much more difficult.

The six friends spent the minutes they were waiting chatting about, well exactly what they had been, Tai and his Digi-Modifying. Pretty soon the other digidestined that were still in Tokyo arrived. Yolei arrived with Ken and Cody in tow. Ken was attending Odaiba High school in the same grade as Kari, T.K. and Davis, while his girlfriend Yolei was halfway through her first year at the University of Tokyo. Cody was halfway through his freshmen year at Odaiba high, and glad to finally have reached high school.

They all greeted their friends happily. The digidestined hadn't done it intentionally but they almost never all got together unless it was for the Anniversary of Myotismon's defeat or the memorial for Tai. The high school age digidestined all saw each other at school, but the college age ones either lived in a different city, or they were too busy to spend time with each other. They weren't in any danger of falling apart, they were just spread out, and this offered a unique opportunity for them all to get together for a non-sad event.

They all talked happily for a few minutes before Mimi's phone went off, and she answered.

"Hello?...Oh hi Joe…Oh, I see…No, it's not a problem…we understand…yea a big test…gotcha…we'll fill you in later…mkay, bye!" Mimi hung up her phone and turned to Izzy. "Joe has a big test he's studying for in the library, so he can't make it."

Izzy nodded and turned to the other eight. Sora looked over the group as well and felt a twinge of sorrow or regret at the fact that the original digidestined had become so spread out. If this had been a normal day, and she, Mimi, and Izzy hadn't already been out, then the new digidestined would have been the only ones to show up. _Us original digidestined really do seem to have a lot of trouble keeping it together, just like that time in the digital world…_ Sora thought, remembering the only time that Tai had been missing from the original digidestined's lives before his death, or disappearance, or whatever.

As Izzy was bringing Ken, Yolei, and Cody up to speed T.K.'s phone went off and he pulled it out.

"Hello?...Matt! Hey!...Yea, there was another attack…No, everyone's fine, but you wouldn't believe what happened…yea we're having a meeting about it right now…sure, I'll put you on speaker." T.K. pulled his phone from his ear and turned it on speaker phone, placing it on Izzy's coffee table.

"Hey everyone!" Matt's voice said from the phone.

"Hey Matt!" Everyone either said, or said some variation of it.

"So Izzy, what's the big deal?" Matt asked, and everyone turned to Izzy, wondering the same thing.

"Well I finally found some information out about the digimon that attacked Odaiba three years ago." Izzy said, and everyone watched as he pulled up a computer program. It started to display what looked like news footage, and everyone stiffened as they recognized it. It was the battle that had occurred three years ago, and all the digidestined watched as the camera zoomed in on Tai and WarGreymon facing off against the digimon, with Sora and Garudamon, and Kari and Angewomon standing behind him.

They were all mesmerized as the battle commenced, and Sora was brought back to that day.

~Flasback~

Sora stood a few feet back from Tai as he stared down the giant digimon, and his fists were clenched in anger. The digimon had arrived and simply blown several buildings up, killing who knows how many people. Tai and Kari had been in their apartment at the time, and Sora was actually on her way there when it happened, so the three had linked up.

Unfortunately they were the only ones who could be there. All of the other digidestined were in other parts of the country or, in Matt's case, a different country. Hopefully the three of them would be enough to take this digimon.

"Alright WarGreymon, let's take care of this guy!" Tai shouted and his partner nodded, jumping forward.

"Mega Claw!" He shouted, bringing his Dramon Destroyers around to hit the digimon.

"JIJIJI" The digimon said, using one of its arms to quickly swipe WarGreymon right out of the sky.

"WarGreymon!" Tai shouted as his partner was sent into a building. The digimon turned towards the three digidestined, its eye charging up.

"Celestial Arrow!" A voice shouted, just before a white light hit the digimon, knocking it backwards.

"Wing Blade!" A fiery bird flew forward and knocked the digimon even farther back, and Garudamon turned towards the digidestined. "Quick find some cover!"

"We'll take care of this guy!" Angewomon added, sending another arrow flying at the digimon, who wasn't even fazed by the attack this time.

"Terra Force!" A giant orange fireball hit the digimon, actually sending it flying, as WarGreymon flew out of the building he had been sent into, looking for some payback. The four digimon entered into a flurry of combat, one of the digidestined's digimon would get a blow or two in, then another, but nothing seemed to more that stagger the digimon.

Tai was getting restless, and was moving a lot closer to the edge of the cover the digidestined had found. "Damn it, we really need Omnimon to take care of this guy…" He said, mostly to himself, but Sora could hear him.

The digimon got a rather good punch in, sending Garudamon flying into Angewomon, and sending both flying away. The two digimon dedigivolved into their Rookie forms and crashed into a nearby building.

"Biyomon!" Sora shouted, as Kari shouted "Salamon!" Before Tai could stop either of them they ran past him, heading for their partners.

"No wait!" Tai shouted trying to grab them as they ran past him. He took a step after them as WarGreymon redoubled his attacks against the digimon, who still seemed to just ignore them.

"Terra Force!" He hits the digimon again, and he falls sideways into a building. WarGreymon hovers, waiting for him to get up.

"JIJIJI!" The digimon shouts, jumping out of the building with its stomach glowing, and aiming right at Sora and Kari. The two had picked up their partners, and had their backs turned to it, so they didn't see. All they saw was Tai sprinting right at them, and shouting for WarGreymon.

"WarGreymon!" Tai shouted as he finally reached Sora and Kari, knocking the two of them down a little rubble pile, and completely out of the line of fire. Sora looks up, right into Tai's eyes just as WarGreymon flies between Tai and the Digimon with his shield out. The blast from the digimon envelops WarGreymon, and seems to ignore the shield.

Sora can only watch as Tai is enveloped by the beam, and the last thing he sees is her shouting his name.

"TAI! NO!" Sora shouts out, and there is a sudden flash of light from Sora's digivice, one that hits Biyomon.

"Biyomon Warp Digivolve to! Phoenixmon!" Biyomon was transformed from a little pink bird into a magnificent golden phoenix, with four large wings, who flew straight into the sky, heading for the digimon.

"JIJIJI?" The digimon looks at Phonixmon and its chest glows once more.

"Star Light Explosion!" Stars shoot out from Phonixmon's wings and hit the digimon ripping straight through it, and destroying it completely. Sora wasn't paying the least attention as she was running to the spot that Tai had been last.

"TAI!" She shouts, looking for any sign of him.

~UnFlashback~

Sora held back the tears that wanted to come out as the video brought back all of those memories. She felt horrible because it had been partly her fault that Tai had to sacrifice himself. If she had just been more careful, or watched the digimon more she wouldn't have had to watch Tai die.

Of course that wasn't even the worst part, in a way. Sora had been starting to realize something that day, and Biyomon gaining the ability to warp digivolve had only confirmed that. Sora had realized that she loved Tai Kamiya, and before she could tell him he had been taken away from her. But it gets worse than that. The last things they had said to each other hadn't even been friendly words; they had been words of an argument. Her and Tai had…

"SORA!" A voice shouted, and Sora looked up to see everyone looking at her in concern. Kari was looking right at her, concern in her eyes. "Are you ok?" She asks much quieter.

"Yea, sorry," Sora says putting on a smile, "Just got caught up in memories I guess." Everyone took her at her word, and turned back to Izzy.

"Well, I finally found this." Izzy said, pushing some more keys on the computer, and the image changed from the frozen view of Phonixmon to a digimon analyzer image of the digimon that had attacked. Everyone took a breath as they looked at their enemy.

"His name is Parallelmon." Izzy said, and then pulled up the, very limited, information on him. "Apparently he is a digimon with the ability to travel between dimensions, where he captures digidestined and uses their energy to power himself."

"So that explains why he was able to beat WarGreymon." Matt said from the phone.

"Exactly Matt," Izzy said, looking through the information on Parallelmon. "There was one other useful bit of information, and this is probably the best news we could hope for." All the digidestined looked right at Izzy, and Sora was sure Matt was holding his phone even closer to his ear. "One of the side effects of his attacks is that it can send the person being attacked into another dimension."

Everyone was silent, completely stunned by Izzy's revelation, and then everyone started talking at once, causing quite a bit of incoherent noise in the room. Sora sat back, thinking about this revelation. _So that was Tai, and he's been in an alternate dimension for the last three years…_ Sora had to smile at this fact. He was really alive, and back!

The digidestined talked excitedly for a few more minutes, excited at the fact that this mysterious person really could be there long lost, and thought to be dead, friend. Cody though was the first to pick up on the one point that everyone else seemed to be missing.

"If that was Tai, why did he run away from you?" Cody asked loud enough for everyone to hear him. That shut everyone's conversations up in a hurry. Surprisingly it was the person who wasn't there who responded.

"Cody," Matt said from the phone, "Tai's been gone for three years, and knowing Tai, if something kept him from us that long it couldn't have been a pleasant experience. He probably has a few issues to deal with, but he'll come around, don't worry." Sora smiled as she was reminded of a much younger, and much more troubled, Matt who had needed time of his own to sort out some problems, and how Tai had, after a little fighting, let him do what he needed. Matt was now trying to repay the favor.

"Matt's right." Sora said, standing up, and looking at everyone. "I'm sure he'll come to us soon. Anyways, he's already doing what he's always done, helping us, even when we didn't know we needed the help."

The older digidestined there all nodded, and that seemed to satisfy Cody. Everyone broke up at that point, heading back to their respective apartments, with Davis and T.K. walking Kari and Sora back to their apartment. The three younger kids decided to go see a movie, and invited Sora, but Sora refused. She had a bit too much to think about to see a movie, so they picked up Gatomon and left the apartment, leaving Sora and Biyomon the apartment to themselves.

Mrs. Kamiya was usually spending the weekdays working until very late at night, and Mr. Kamiya was on a business trip for the entire month, so the two friends really had the apartment to themselves. Sora filled in Biyomon in on everything that had happened, and she seemed just as surprised as the rest.

"So Tai's really alive still?" She asked as the two relaxed on the sofa.

Sora nodded, and then smiled. "And Agumon too most likely." Biyomon smiled a bit as she looked to the picture they had up of the two previously mentioned boys. The two sat back in a comfortable silence, both very happy at the very fact that their friends were actually alive.

_I can't believe it, I actually saw Tai today! _Sora thought, and then started thinking about her thoughts from earlier. _Even after all of this time, I still love him, at least I think I do, and now I'll finally get the chance to tell him…_ Sora smiled at this thought, and leaned back, just as there was a knock at the door. Sora looked up at the clock, it was just after ten, not super late, but not a time for people to be knocking on doors. _Must be someone selling something…_ Sora thought, there had been a rush of those vile creatures bothering the people of this apartment building for the last week or so. Sora got up and walked to the door, ready to tell the salesman to get lost.

She opened the door, her mouth already berating the salesman. "No we don't want to buy any of what you're selling…Agumon!" Sora stopped as she saw the little orange lizard standing on the door, dressed in a green hoodie that disguised him well if you didn't look too closely.

"Hi Sora." He replied, cocking his head to the side inquisitively. "What are you doing in Tai's apartment?"

~Inside~

Sora had brought Agumon into the apartment thinking having a conversation with an orange dinosaur would attract a bit too much attention. The little digimon had checked out the room, as if checking for hidden enemies while Biyomon turned around.

"Agumon!" She squealed, running over to her long lost friend, and wrapping her wings around him. Agumon didn't really seem to know what to do, and Sora had noticed him tense up as Biyomon run at him.

_Geez, Agumon was never this uptight, what happened to him?_ Sora wondered as she watched the two digimon. It took a few seconds but Agumon finally seemed to relax a little bit, and the three sat down on the sofas.

Agumon turned to Sora and spoke before Sora could.

"You know Sora, you still haven't told me why you were at Tai's apartment, and without anyone being here too." He said, and Sora frowned a bit.

"I live here Agumon." She said, and Biyomon nodded.

"Since when?" He asked, obviously confused. The last things he remembered hadn't exactly been Sora living, or even being close to living, with the Kamiya's.

"Well," Sora said, looking towards the pictures on the wall by the TV. Ever curious Agumon looked, and saw that they were relatively new pictures. Sora was in quite a few of them, along with the rest of the Kamiya family. The center pictures though drew Agumon's attention. They were a collection of pictures of Tai, almost like a memorial. "After the attack where you and Tai…" Sora seemed to choke up a little, as she always did thinking about that day. "die…uh…disappeared, my mother decided enough was enough with the digimon attacks, and decided to move to Kyoto. I didn't want to go, and Mrs. Kamiya offered to let me stay here."

Agumon nodded, as if that made sense to him. _I wonder why she didn't move in with Matt? They are dating after all…_ Agumon thought to himself, and in typical Agumon fashion proceeded to voice his thought.

"Why didn't you move in with Matt?" Agumon asked again, and Sora sighed.

"Well, right after the attack, I broke up with Matt, so that would have been a little awkward." Sora said, a glimmer of a grin appearing on her face, and once again Agumon nodded.

_Agumon sure does seem to have changed…_ Sora thought to herself, thinking about the questions he'd been asking, and especially the cautious way he'd entered the room.

"Does that answer your question Agumon?" Sora asked, and Agumon simply nodded again. "Ok, well I have a few for you now."

"I have a bit more than a few!" Biyomon threw in, entering the conversation. "Where have you been? We thought you two were dead!" Sora didn't really have a response to that, mostly since she happened to agree with Biyomon, she was just trying to keep from freaking Agumon out.

Agumon nodded, and looked at the two of them. "I know we've been gone for a long time, but really you'll have to talk to Tai about our time gone."

"But where were you? And why did you just get back now? It's been three years!" Biyomon said, and Sora was surprised at how emotional she was being about it.

Agumon for his part took it in very calmly, and sighed on the inside. _Well, I guess I can tell them a little bit, but I can't be here too long or Tai will notice I'm gone._

"Ok Biyomon, I'll tell you a little bit, but first you need to know I'm under a time constraint." Agumon said, feeling it was best to just come out and tell them.

Sora looked at him, and much faster than Agumon thought she would put two and two together. "Tai doesn't know you're here does he?"

Agumon shook his head, and Sora sighed once more. _Man if there is any more sighing in this conversation we'll hit a limit for the room…_

Biyomon though really seemed to want to get her answers, because she cleared her throat loudly, getting Agumon's attention back to her. Agumon grinned sheepishly, in a way that brought Sora back three years, to the last time she had seen the digimon.

"Ok, for the last three years, we've been in another dimension, or rather several other dimensions." Agumon said and Biyomon raised an eyebrow. "Honest, I don't know how, and we certainly didn't know it at first, but that's where we were." Agumon leaned back into the sofa, and Sora was sure he was remembering some of their times.

_I wonder what it was like in another dimension. _Sora thought to herself, but looking on the look on Agumon's face caused her to remember what Matt had told the digidestined earlier. "_Tai's been gone for three years, and knowing Tai, if something kept him from home that long it couldn't have been a pleasant experience."_

_Whatever they went through or saw on the other side it couldn't have been good…_ Sora thought as she remembered Matt's words and saw the less than pleasant expression on Agumon's face.

Biyomon, who hadn't heard Matt's comment, and didn't seem to be paying close attention to Agumon's expression tried to press for more answers, faster, but Sora stopped her.

"B, give him a moment." Sora told her friend, who did, finally noticing the rather clouded look on Agumon's face. After a minute or so he seemed to snap out of it, looking at the two of them.

"Sorry, got caught up in some memories." Agumon said, and both Sora and Biyomon nodded. "Where was I? Oh yea, why we didn't come back sooner." Agumon scratched his head in a pose that both Sora and Biyomon remembered well, Agumon's thinking expression.

"Well," Agumon started, finally seeming to have figured out what to say. "Let's just say our dimension isn't the easiest to get into for a very good reason, and it kept us out until the de…someone else," Agumon quickly changed words before Biyomon or Sora could figure out what he was saying, "figured out a way to break through. We got here before they did thankfully."

Agumon stopped talking after that and looked towards the clock on the wall behind them. Sora looked and saw that it was now a little before eleven.

"Look, I'd really like to tell you both everything, and hear about what you've been up to," The look on his face told both of the girls that he really did want to, "but I have to get back before Tai notices I'm gone."

Sora really didn't want the little digimon to leave, he was the only connection she had right now to Tai, but she knew he was quite capable of leaving without her permission.

"Ok Agumon," Sora said, "What did you need?"

Agumon looked a little sheepishly around, and then decided to bite the bullet. "Well I was really hoping to talk to Kari to try and get her to help me get Tai to see you guys." He said, wishing that the younger Kamiya child had been home.

"Well that's not a problem." Sora said with a smile. "I know, or knew, Tai at least as well as Kari, so I can help instead."

Agumon actually looked downcast at this, and Sora was a little concerned. "What's the matter Agumon?" She asked, and Agumon looked up.

"I'm not sure if that's the best idea Sora." Agumon replied. Sora looked at him, and Biyomon suddenly decided that this wasn't a conversation for her. She flew out of the room leaving the two alone.

"And what's that supposed to mean Agumon?" Sora asked, not threateningly, but rather curiously.

"Well, do you remember the day me and Tai left?" Agumon asked, and Sora nodded. "Do you remember what had happened between you and Tai that day?" Sora nodded again, starting to realize what Agumon was hinting at.

That day had been a normal day for Tai and Sora, Sora remembered, them spending a good amount of time together since Matt was away at some gig for his band, and well things had been changing for them, or rather Sora.

She and Matt had a big fight the night before, over the telephone since Matt was in America, and Tai was doing his best to try and help her out like he always did as her best friend. There was only one problem, Sora wasn't sure if she wanted help from Tai getting back together with Matt. She had been thinking about her relationship a lot, especially with the fights she and Matt always seemed to get in. More and more, especially with the way she always seemed to get along so well with Tai, and he was often the only one who could always cheer her up, Sora was starting to realize that she had chosen the wrong boy the Christmas before.

She had been asked out by two boys that day, and rejected the wrong one, or so she was starting to realize.

That day especially she had been really feeling that, and being with Tai had only intensified that feeling. Eventually a little hug had turned into something a bit more, and who knows where it would have ended up, if Tai hadn't stopped them both.

~Flashback~

Tai pushed Sora away from him, and Sora was very disappointed as their lips broke their embrace.

"Sora what are you doing?" Tai asked, taking another step away from her, and Sora sighed suppressing her anger.

"Well, I was kissing you Tai," Sora said with a smile, but Tai didn't return the smile. "What's the matter Tai, I thought this is what you wanted?"

"Not like this!" Tai said, backing away a bit more. "You're dating my best friend! I can't help you cheat on him!"

"What? You don't even want to get some revenge on him?" Sora asked, both of them knowing what she was talking about. Sora was getting angry with Tai. He'd spent the first month or so after her and Matt had started dating moping about them being together, and now she was offering him what he wanted, why didn't he take it?

"Sora how could you think I would want that? The two of you were my best friends, and you being happy was more important…" Tai said softly, but Sora would have none of it.

"Oh right Tai; I'm sure that's exactly what you were thinking!" Sora shouted at him. "That's why you spent all that time moping about!"

"What do you want from me!" Tai finally shouted. No one really like someone else yelling at them, and Tai had enough of being yelled at, especially for this topic.

"I want the same thing you want!" Sora replied, and Tai shook his head.

"Sora I don't even know what I want anymore." Tai said, his voice getting lower, but that wasn't the answer Sora wanted to hear.

"Oh right Tai, I'm sure you don't!" Sora wasn't sure why she was angry, but she was pretty sure it wasn't because of Tai, he just happened to be an easy outlet for her anger.

Tai's eyes opened wider as if he had realized something, and he turned away from Sora. "Sora is this really about you and me, or is it about you and Matt?"

Sora's reply quickly died in her throat as she realized what Tai was thinking she was after. _No I can't let him think that I'm just after petty revenge…I've got to tell him what's really going…_ Sora thought to herself, but had spent too long thinking, and Tai jumped to conclusions.

"I see." He walked out of the room, heading for Sora's front door. Sora was frozen for a second, and then chased after him. He was putting his shoes on as she caught up to him.

He looked up, and started talking before Sora could. "Sora I need to tell you something I should have told you last Christmas, I love you, always have, always will," Sora's heart did a little flip as he said this, but his next words hurt a lot, "but one thing I will not let you do is try and take advantage of that fact to get petty revenge on Matt."

Tai turned and walked right out the door without another word.

~UnFlashback~

Those had been the last words that they had spoken to each other, and Sora had felt horrible about it, and still did.

"He hates me doesn't he?" Sora asked, dreading the answer.

Agumon shook his head quickly. "Of course not!" Agumon said, and Sora let out a breath of relief. "In fact, I think it's just the opposite, but he was really upset about that entire conversation. It wasn't good for him and it was one of the things he dwelled on the most when we first got lost." Agumon said, and Sora felt a twinge of regret. The whole situation had been her fault entirely, and she had never had the chance to fix things.

"Well, at least I know the first thing to talk with Tai about." Sora said, and, just to clarify for the sometimes clueless digimon, added, "Because I need to apologize to him."

Agumon let out a sigh of relief and Sora smiled. "I think that would probably be the best way to get him started going back to you guys." Agumon said, smiling for the first time in a while.

"Good, well what are we waiting for? Let's go see him now!" Sora said, excitedly standing up, but Agumon shook his head.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Sora, Tai's not exactly in the best…state of mind. Our little adventure did a pretty big number on him, and I don't think he's completely ready to come back yet." Agumon said frantically.

"What!" Sora asked, both concerned for Tai, and ready to hurt whoever had hurt Tai. "I thought you were here to try and get Tai to come back?"

"I am, sort of." Agumon said, slapping his forehead. Sora looked at him and took a breath, backing down to let the digimon explain. "I'm really here on advice to get Tai moving in that direction quicker. Otherwise he'll never reunite with you guys."

Sora nodded, it made a bit of sense to her, if he really was messed up enough to avoid his friends, and him running away from her earlier seemed to prove that easily enough, then he would need some time.

"Ok Agumon, but you had better keep me informed," Sora replied. "And I'll think of some ideas for you."

Agumon nodded, and Sora saw him to the door. Biyomon rejoined them, giving Agumon another hug, and they all stood outside the door.

"Agumon." Sora said as the digimon started to walk away. He turned, and Sora smiled, "It's good to have you back."

_Well how about that, actually getting some background out of what's happening. The plot thickens next chapter, so watch for it! And just too wet your appetite, for the next chapter, here's a preview of what's gonna happen!_

"_**You two." Beelzemon said, gesturing towards two digimon, who ran forward as he pointed to them. "Go to the human world, and cause some…distractions."**_

_**Davis turned to where the explosion was coming from, and there was smoke rising in the distance. "Who wants to bet that was a digimon?" Davis asked, pulling out his digivice. **_

"_**Big Bang Blow!" A voice shouted just before a shape shot out and hit Raidramon, sending him flying across the square. "Raidramon!" Davis shouted, running towards his partner.**_

_Ok, now to review replies!_

_Edasama: So was Agumon's talk good? Probably not, I felt it was kinda week, but some other stuff came out so hopefully that works!_

_TaioraWarrior: Thanks! I figure that family is an important thing to Tai, so he'd be concerned about it, especially Kari, so that's where it's coming from…but I'm definetly not the first to have some family stuff in a fic, you probably just didn't see it thanks to the lack of Taiora…lol. And yea, I really liked that ending, it may actually be my favorite chapter ending that I've had in any of my stories so far lol._

_my daydream world: Thanks! And yea, poor poor Tai, the guy can never catch a break._

_Ellabell: Sorry this wasn't so soon, hopefully length makes up for it!_

_Odinson83: Alright! Good to hear! And you are very perceptive. I thought that I left plenty of clues as to what had basically happened. I won't reveal too much, that would just ruin the fun for me! But I will say, the digital world has not been cut off from the human world, not in the least, it was the different dimension, so Agumon was so kind to inform us up above, so good observation on that as well!_


	6. Night on the Town

_Ok, time for a new chapter, less length, but also less time between the chapters. Hope you enjoy._

_Disclaimer:…I no own…get through skull!...I NO OWN!_

**Chapter 5 Night on the Town**

~Digital World~

A small blue and white digimon that looked like some sort of flying pig flew right into the middle of a modest looking camp that contained quite a few digimon. It flew right up to the central tent, where several digimon were gathered around what looked like a map.

"Lord Beelzemon!" The little digimon called out, and one of the digimon that was around the table looked up.

"What is it?" Beelzemon asked moving around the table to talk to one of the scouts.

"Sangloupmon didn't follow your orders, and tried to attack the digidestined." The little digimon said, staying in the air in case Beelzemon really didn't like that news.

Beelzemon looks at the digimon, his fist tightening.

"And why did he do that Tsukaimon?" He asks very quietly, and Tsukaimon takes a breath.

"Six of the digidestined were separate from the rest, with only two of their digimon partners there for protection. Sangloupmon felt that it could take them." Tsukaimon told Beelzemon.

"And since you're telling me this, instead of celebrating Sangloupmon's victory, I take it things didn't go so well." Beelzemon sneered.

"Well my lord, he had the digidestined beat, but then _he_ arrived." Tsukaimon told Beelzemon, and the way it said he told all of the digimon who were listening to the conversation exactly who it was talking about. Beelzemon slammed a fist down onto the table, causing it to shatter instantly.

"Damn it! That stupid puppy had to go and reveal that we were here! Now we've lost the element of surprise! Damn it!" Beelzemon went off into a sting of curses, walking back and forth in the tent. The digimon who had been talking with him earlier all backed away, none of them wanted to be nearby if Beelzemon decided to take his anger out on one of them.

It took a minute but Beelzemon finally managed to calm down, and then sat in the chair he'd set up for himself. Tsukaimon hovered above him, waiting for orders.

"Get everyone gathered in here, now." Beelzemon ordered, and the digimon in the tent scattered around the camp, gathering all of the other digimon.

Once they were all there Beelzemon looked over them all, as if searching for something. His finally rested on two of the smaller digimon that were in the front of the group.

"You two." He said, gesturing to the two digimon, who ran forward as he pointed to them. "Go to the human world, and cause some…distractions. Keep the digidestined, and especially him, occupied while I put together a new plan."

"Yes Lord Beelzemon." The two said in unison, bowing, and then running for the portal. Beelzemon turned to Tsukaimon after they left.

"Follow them, and make sure they keep them occupied for a good amount of time."

~Human World~

T.K., Davis, and Kari, along with their digimon, all emerged from the movie theater, excitedly talking about the movie they had just seen.

"I can't believe how good those special effects were!" Davis was saying to Kari and T.K., while DemiVeemon nodded from the top of Davis's head, agreeing with him.

"Davis did you pay attention to any part of that movie besides the explosions and fights?" Kari asked exasperatedly.

"Of course! I noticed that everyone was blue!" Davis said, causing Kari to shake her head, while T.K. did his best to not laugh. Davis smiled because, as usual, he was doing his best to mess with Kari, and it was working.

"Really Davis? What about all those guys with the helichopter things?" DemiVeemon asked from Davis's head confused.

"They're called helicopters DemiVeemon." Davis said with a laugh correcting his partner. "And I knew that, it's just more fun to say everyone was blue to mess with Kari."

"I heard that!" Kari said, and the three humans all laughed. This was a usual sight for most of the three friend's local hangouts. They were the closest of friends, well in T.K. and Kari's case more than friends but that's not the point, and did everything together and with a laugh.

The friendship between the three of them was one of the things barely keeping the digidestined together. It had been a tough time for all of the digidestined after Tai's 'death' three years ago. He had literally been the glue keeping the team together for as long as they could remember, always there for any member of the digidestined if they needed him, whether they knew i t or not. The one time he had been gone from their lives for an extended period of time the digidestined team had literally fallen apart, though Kari and Davis hadn't been there to see it, T.K. had told the two all about it.

The three, after a period of mourning, had seen the team start to drift steadily apart, and had vowed to keep the digidestined together, if it was the last thing they did. They had taken up the job that Tai could no longer fulfill, being there for the other digidestined. It had been an exhausting job, and often time the three would wonder how Tai could have done it on his own and with a smile on his face the entire time, but they'd still done their best. They didn't do the greatest job, Matt's separation from the team until recently being the biggest failure but pretty much everything had held together. Things had gotten tougher once the older digidestined had all started college, but everyone was sill friends and the team hadn't, completely, fallen apart.

The three had grown closer, and now were virtually inseparable from each other.

"So what do you two want to do now?" Davis asked after the three had stopped laughing, and started walking towards T.K.'s car. T.K. shrugged but Kari sighed.

"Davis," Kari said rather exasperatedly, "It's already past midnight, and we've been out all day." Kari did look rather tired as she said this, and Davis nodded.

"Ok, so whose apartment are we going to this time?" Davis asked, just going with Kari being tired of being out, not being regular old tired. Kari sighed, knowing that Davis wasn't tired at all. How he could still have energy this late at night was a mystery to her.

"Fine, we'll go to my place, this way at least I won't have to worry about falling asleep at your places." Kari said, knowing better than to try and convince Davis it was time to go home.

Davis looked at her a little concerned, as T.K. unlocked all of the doors on his car.

"We don't have to if you don't want Kari; it is getting pretty late…" Davis said his grin coming off his face as he saw that Kari really was pretty tired, and from across the car T.K. nodded, agreeing with Davis.

"It's fine Davis." Kari said, knowing that Davis hadn't been trying to be mean or keep her up at all, he was just being himself, and doing what he loved, hanging out with Kari and T.K.. "It'll be nice to fall asleep watching a movie, so it's fine." Kari added a smile on the end just to reassure him.

"You sure?" Davis asked, and Kari just nodded. "Ok good!" Davis said his grin returning to his face. The three climbed into T.K.'s car and headed back towards Odaiba. The movie theater was a good distance from their district, but they didn't really mind. Their friends had told them the only way to see the movie they'd seen was in an IMAX theater, so they come out here to do just that.

They were in that Shibuya district right now, not far from where T.K. once lived. The three digimon were enjoying the sights all around them, since they hadn't been outside of Odaiba that often despite living in the real world for several years.

"Wow! Look at that!"

"How do they get it to light up like that?"

"This is so cool!"

"Ah a monster!"

"DemiVeemon, that's a sign."

"I knew that, I was just…testing you!"

"Right…"

"Hey look, a digimon!"

"Look at the lights over…wait what?"

The three digimon all scrambled to look where Patamon had pointed, as did Davis and Kari. T.K. slowed the car down so they could get a better look.

"What was it Patamon?" Davis asked the digimon who had spoken.

"It looked like a Pumpkinmon!" Patamon exclaimed excitedly.

T.K. looked around, and then smiled sadly. "That was probably just your mind playing tricks with you Patamon, look where we are." T.K. told his partner, who looked confused. "This is where we ran into Pumpkinmon and Gatsumon when Myotismon was here looking for Kari."

Patamon looked at him, and nodded in understanding. "I guess you're right T.K., I hadn't noticed that."

T.K. opened his mouth to reply when there was a sudden explosion in the distance. Davis turned to where the explosion was coming from, and there was smoke rising in the distance.

"Who wants to bet that was a digimon?" Davis asked, pulling out his digivice. The other two looked at him as Davis put on what they described as his game face. He only wore his serious face at soccer games and when dealing with problems in the digital world. As they looked at his digivice, its screen was glowing.

"That's odd, why didn't they go off like usual?" Kari asked as she pulled hers out to see the same thing.

"I don't know, but our digivices didn't react until that digimon almost landed on you and Sora in Venus Fort." T.K. said as he turned the car towards the source of the explosion.

"Maybe whoever is behind these attacks are able to mask themselves from our digivices somehow?" Davis suggested, looking ahead as they continued driving. Suddenly a crowd of people ran into the road, completely blocking their path. They were all fleeing from the explosion.

"Ok, end of the car trip." T.K. said opening his door. The other two, along with their digimon all filed out of the car.

"We'll never make it through this crowd." Kari said in exasperation. Even more people were pressing through the street now, and getting through them would be even harder now.

"Yea we will." Davis said with a grin. "DemiVeemon!"

"DemiVeemon digivolve to! Veemon!" Veemon was now standing in front of the three digidestined.

"Um Davis? Veemon's not going to get us through the crowd; he's smaller than we are." Kari said, not understanding Davis's plan.

"Who said anything about Veemon clearing a path?" Davis asked, before turning to his partner. "Right Veemon?"

"Right Davis! Now what am I agreeing to again?" Veemon said, not getting Davis's plan either. Davis smacked his hand against his forehead. Sometimes no one understood him.

"You won't clear the path! But…Oh never mind I'll just show you, Digi-Armor Energize!" Davis shouted, just as a black egg looking thing with a thunderbolt in it shot out of his digivice and a light hits Veemon.

"Veemon Armor-Digivolve to! Raidramon! The Storm of Friendship!" Veemon was transformed from his little two legged form into a large, black armored, wolf-like digimon with a yellow thunderbolt shaped horn on his forehead.

T.K. and Kari finally got Davis's plan, and T.K. pulled out his own digivices, while Patamon ran forward.

"Digi-Armor Energize!" T.K. shouted, and a flash of light engulfed his digimon.

"Patamon Armor-Digivolve to! Pegasusmon! Flying Hope!" Patamon was transformed from his small flying pig form into a great winged horse with golden armor.

Gatomon unfortunately was unable to armor digivolve anymore due to the fact that her tail ring had been returned to her. The absence of that tail ring had allowed her to armor digivolve and DNA digivolve during their battles with MaloMyotismon.

The three digidestined quickly run to their partners, and climb on their backs, Kari and Gatomon climbing onto Pegasusmon. Pegasusmon takes off into the sky, getting above the crowd, while Raidramon jumps over them, landing in a small cleared area. The three proceed this way, closer and closer to the source of the explosion.

They finally emerge into the square where the explosion had come from, and see several damaged buildings all surrounding the square. There were a couple of fires that were raging in some of the buildings, but no sign of what had caused the problem. Davis dropped off of Raidramon's back as they looked around the square. Pegasusmon dropped both humans and Gatomon off by Davis before returning to the sky, also looking around the square.

"That's weird, where's whoever did this?" T.K. asks as the three digidestined slowly walk into the center of the square with Gatomon. Raidramon was moving around the outside of the square, checking the buildings while Pegasusmon hovered over the square, helping the humans search the square.

"I don't know…" Davis said, stopping to check one of the trash cans for anything.

"Maybe it wasn't a digimon," Kari suggested as the three continued to find nothing in the area.

"No, I definitely smell a digimon." Raidramon said, smelling the air as he looked around the area. The three humans looked at the digimon as he sniffed the area. "He's right, over," He moved towards one of the alleys that was around the square. "There." Raidramon pointed right at the alley way.

"Big Bang Blow!" A voice shouted just before a shape shot out and hit Raidramon, sending him flying across the square.

"Raidramon!" Davis shouted, running towards his partner as Raidramon hit one of the buildings and dedigivolved into Veemon. Pegasusmon came lower to the ground looking for Raidramon's attacker.

"Trick or Treat!" A different voice shots just before a giant pumpkin appears just above the digimon.

"Huh?" he says, looking everywhere but above him, then the giant pumpkin is slammed into him, causing him to fall to the ground, dedigivolving.

"Patamon!" T.K. shouts as his friend hits the ground, and then starts moving cautiously towards his partner.

Davis meanwhile had reached Veemon and was helping him up.

"I'm fine Davis, he just surprised me." Veemon said as Davis literally had to pick him up off the ground to get him up.

"You sure about that Veemon?" Davis asked as his partner got off of the ground, and Veemon nodded. "Well, then lets digivolve!"

"Right!" Veemon shouted as a light flashed from Davis's digivice hitting him. "Veemon digivolve to! ExVeemon!" Veemon was replaced by his Champion-Level form, which looked similar to Veemon, only much taller with a grey x on his chest and a pair of white wings on his back. His face had elongated and the small horn on his head had grown to a much larger size.

"Vee-Laser!" ExVeemon shouts, sending a blast down the alleyway where there enemies had been hiding, allowing T.K. to get his digimon away.

"Are you ok?" T.K. asked Patamon, who seemed more dazed than hurt.

"Yea T.K.!" Patamon said, and T.K. pulled out his digivice.

"You think you're up to it?" T.K. asked his partner, who nodded. Patamon flew up into the air, and T.K.'s digivice emitted a flash of light that engulfed Patamon.

"Patamon digivolve to! Angemon!" Patamon was transformed from his small flying pig-like form into a majestic and powerful looking angel that had six pure white wings rising from his back. His eyes were covered by helmet and long orange hair fell back from his head. He hovered over T.K. and Kari, as Gatomon also got up. She was already in her Champion-Level form, and stood with ExVeemon and Angemon.

The smoke that had been created by ExVeemon's attack started to clear and both the digidestined and their digimon strain to see what attacked them. As the smoke cleared two shapes started to appear, and then their forms become clear. One is a fairly small rock like digimon, humanoid in shape, but made entirely of rocks, while the one standing next to him has the same shape, with a white suit on and a green cape. His head though, it was a pumpkin. Davis and Kari were both a little shocked that the digimon that had attacked them, and knocked their digimon out of their armored forms, were so small, and relatively harmless looking.

T.K., and Angemon for that matter, were both shocked, but for a different reason. They were both remembering a night, almost seven years in the past, one with these two digimon.

"Pumpkinmon? Gatsumon?" T.K. asked looking at the two digimon, assuming they were the same ones that he had seen once before. Angemon was just as frozen as T.K., but ExVeemon and Gatomon had both been preparing to attack. They both stopped as T.K. seemed to recognize the digimon. That was one of the biggest mistakes they could have made.

"Trick or Treat!" The one with a Pumpkin head shouts, sending a pair of pumpkins flying into Angemon and ExVeemon, while the rock like digimon jumped at Gatomon.

"Big Bang Blow!" He landed a punch on Gatomon, and there was a large explosion, sending her flying.

"ExVeemon!" Davis shouted, as his partner emerged from the remains of the pumpkin that had hit him.

"Vee-Laser!" ExVeemon replied, sending his laser attack right at the pumpkin like digimon, who simply dodged the attack.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon had also emerged and attacked the dodging digimon, hitting him with his powerful attack. The pumpkin digimon simply absorbed the attack, and landed out in the center of the square.

"How did that not even faze him?" T.K. asked as the three digidestined turned towards the center of the square.

"Their Ultimates!" Gatomon said as she slowly got off of the ground from where she'd landed. "The pumpkin is Pumpkinmon, and the other one is the Ultimate-Level form of Gatsumon, Meteormon."

"Ultimates?" Davis asked, realizing that they were in a lot of trouble at this point. Angemon and Gatomon could both, maybe, go to the Ultimate-Level. The digidestined hadn't had a battle in the real world for three years, and in the digital world the digimon Sovereigns lent the digidestined a bit of their power when they needed to reach their Ultimate-Level. They, technically, had the powers of their Crests back, but they hadn't used them in nearly three years. Davis wasn't even sure if they remembered how to access their Crests at this point.

T.K. and Kari turn to their digimon who look to them at the same time. Davis can see a look of doubt in all of their eyes, and knows that they could use a little encouragement. Even though ExVeemon can't digivolve anymore without Stingmon, his DNA digivoluton partner, they could still help out.

Davis walked up to his two best friends, placing a hand on both of their shoulders. "Hey guys, don't look so worried, you'll both get it." Davis told both of his friends, believing every word that he told them. T.K. and Kari looked at Davis, and really did feel like they could do it, despite the fact that Davis hadn't changed anything. That was something Davis could always do, have faith in his friends, and give them faith in themselves.

The two nodded, and suddenly there were three flashes of light. Kari and T.K.'s digivice engulfed their digimon, while the third light was coming from Davis's digivice.

"Gatomon digivolve to! Angewomon!" Gatomon went from being a small cat like digimon to a tall female angle digimon. She had eight wings spread behind her; a mask identical to Angemon's covering her eyes, and long blond hair flowing down her back.

"Angemon digivolve to! MagnaAngemon!" Angemon's Ultimate-Level form had two more wings, and his helmet had become elongated and changed to a purple color. On his right wrist was a mighty beam sword, and his left arm was covered in a shield.

Davis was too busy watching the two angels to pay attention to his digivice at first, but ExVeemon got his attention.

"Davis! Your digivice!" He shouted, snapping Davis out of his daze. Davis shook his head, and brought his digivice up to his face. There was a symbol flashing on it, one that looked vaguely familiar to Davis. At the top of the symbol was a diamond, then directly below it was an M like figure with another diamond at the bottom of each leg of the M.

"What's this?" Davis asked, pulling the digivice closer to his face. As it got close to his face it let out another flash of light and Davis shouted. When the light cleared the symbol was no longer on his digivice but now on a small necklace that was hanging in front of Davis, and ExVeemon had dedigivolved into Veemon.

Davis cautiously reached out to the necklace and grabbed it. It glowed in his hand, and suddenly his digivice let out a flash of light, which engulfed Veemon.

"Veemon warp digivolve to! Magnamon!" ExVeemon was transformed into a powerful looking knight covered in golden armor. Davis just stared in awe at his partner. Magnamon had appeared to the digidestined before, but never as a regular digivoluton.

Magnamon flew into the air with the two angels, and the light being emitted from the three digimon covered the entire square.

"Ok, let's get these clowns!" Davis said, and the three humans and their partners finally turned back to their opponents, or rather, where their opponents had been.

"Trick or Treat!" Pumpkinmon again attacked, this time from an unknown location, hitting all three of the digidestined's digimon. The three powerful digimon weren't hurt by the attack, but they were all smashed by the pumpkins and forced to the ground, right by their partners.

"Galactic Flare!" Meteormon shouts, once again from a hidden location. Nothing happens at first, and the three humans look around in confusion.

"Get down!" Magnamon shouts, still trying to get out of the pumpkin. Davis looks and finally sees the hundreds of fireballs flying from the sky. He grabs T.K., who was right next to him, and drags him to the ground, hoping Kari, who was farther away from the two boys, had gotten to cover.

The attack hits all around the six, and explosions surround them. Davis literally can't see or feel anything but the shaking ground. Davis was afraid for his own life yes, but at this moment he was more concerned for Kari, the person he didn't know what had happened to.

Kari for her part was scared out of her mind the second she saw the flames falling out of the sky right on top of the digidestined. The opponents they had faced had always tried to destroy their digimon, and then attack the digidestined, never both at the same time, and Kari was scared about this. Despite the many battles she'd fought she'd never really viewed them as life threatening for her.

She should have done something sensible like dive for cover, but the only thing she could do was stand there frozen and close her eyes. That's when she was tackled to the ground.

She didn't know who had done it, but it must have been Davis or T.K. Kari didn't open her eyes at first, but ruled out T.K. immediately. She had snuggled with him enough to know how T.K. felt, and this was not T.K., which meant it had to be Davis.

Kari kept her eyes closed as the flames impacted, causing flashes of light all around them. Kari could also feel the ground shaking every time an attack hit. She shut her eyes tighter wishing the attack would end and hoping Angewomon was ok.

Another blast hit, seeming even closer to Kari than before, and Kari shut her eyes even tighter. Then she heard what sounded like muffled cursing, then a happy exclamation. A second later there was a flash of light that seemed right next to Kari, and she thought she had been hit or something like that. Kari waited a few seconds for the flames to wash over her, not expecting what happened next.

All of the noise of the attack suddenly stopped, and Davis got off of her. Kari stayed where she was, not knowing what was going on. She cautiously opened her eyes, and saw that a bubble of sorts had extended around her, and what looked like Davis and T.K. taking cover a few feet from her. Magnamon was slowly getting to his feet, his armor smoking all over from where the attacks had hit him. He picked up Patamon and Salamon, both of whom were unconscious.

Kari took all of this in at a glance, and realized that Davis had not saved her. She turned to see the person who had saved her and came face to face with her brother.

_Duh duh duh! Anyone see that coming? Ok, that's chapter 5, hope you enjoyed that a bit, let me know what you thought, about anything, if you have questions I'll try to answer them._

_Ok preview:_

_**Tai Kamiya stood looking out over the gathered army of digimon. This dimension was being invaded, like many others before it, and the enemy had expected it to fall like all of the others. Unfortunately for them they had run into a bit of a problem. **_

"_**Tai!" Tai turns to see that his sister had finally realized who had saved her. Before he can do anything she runs right to him and embraces him in a huge bear hug. Tai is completely frozen for a moment, then returns his sisters embrace.**_

_And review replies:_

_TaioraWarrior: action? Was there? And it was very similar to yours, except for the fact that Tai 'died' this time. And no there really isn't. it's the only way I could really see her getting the power to go to mega, so it makes sense. Yea, I thought It was good. I needed Tai to have some emotional baggage before he 'left' and even more when he got back. And thanks!_

_Edasama: Thanks! And I will!_

_Odinson83: Yea, thanks. It's got to be the only way to reach mega, at least with the crests. And yea, I'd had similar thoughts about Matt and Tai a few times, but I probably won't talk about it. As you'll see next chapter, Tai does digivolution a little different this time around._

_Supershooter:Thanks! And better this time!_

_Ellabell: I know. But they'll (hopefully) be happy in the end…_


	7. Family Reunion

_Ok, so here we are, chapter six! Yay! Also, longest chapter I've ever written, so be happy!_

_So I had a couple of people ask about Magnamon last chapter, so I felt I would just address that here. He is supposed to be a armor-level digimon, but the whole armor level is pretty ambiguous, usually equal to a champion level digimon. Magnamon on the other hand is supposed to be much more powerful. The Magnamon featured in 02 is actually underpowered, as Magnamon is supposed to be about as powerful as a mega-level digimon. So that's what I've done here. I don't think I'll call him being Mega-level, but he'll have the same power as one, and the warp digivolving just seemed most appropriate._

_Disclaimer: I do not own digimon…this time, check again next time._

**Chapter 6 Family Reunion**

Tai Kamiya opened his eyes and sat up in his bed, checking the clock that he had set up in the hotel bedroom. It was just after eleven thirty at night, Tai had gotten about two hours of sleep.

_Well that was refreshing._ Tai thought as he stretched and walked into the bathroom in the hotel room. He got into the shower and took a short shower, getting clean and ready for what was next. Tai had never been one to survive on so little sleep, or take a short shower, at least before he'd been sent to another dimension. The different circumstances, and fighting for his life non-stop for three years, had changed his habits somewhat.

Tai got back into his clothes after drying off from his shower and entered the living room portion of the hotel room. He expected to see Agumon sleeping on the sofa, but instead found a note from him. He'd gone to get some food for the two of them.

_Good old Agumon._ Tai thought with a small smile. Tai sat down at the table that the room had and opened up the laptop that was sitting there. He and Agumon had arrived a few days before, and setting up the laptop, and getting it hooked up to the network that it was connected to, had been one of Tai's priorities. Tai had never been a computer expert, in fact he still wasn't, but he'd been shown how to set up this one by one of his allies before returning home.

The computer didn't show a normal display, there was no task bar, or internet explorer, or any options really. The computer booted up and a map of Tokyo appeared on the screen. There were two other maps, one of Japan and the other of the United States, that were in the left and right corners of the screen respectively, but the map of Tokyo took up the majority of the screen. Ten dots all blinked on the map of Tokyo, all in different locations. There were nine green dots with a larger blue dot pretty much centered on them.

The blue dot was Tai's laptop, and the hotel he was staying in was pretty much centered in Odaiba so he could watch the other digidestined, who were the green dots. The dots in America and the other part of Japan were Matt and Mimi, and Tai watched them, just to make sure they didn't run into trouble.

_This would be easier if I could just talk to all of them…_ Tai thought to himself as he watched his old friends on the computer screen.

Tai wanted more than anything than to see all of the friends that he hadn't seen in three years but he couldn't. The same feeling that had come over him at the gate he had used to return came over him every time he considered going to see any of them.

To be honest, Tai thought that it was fear. He was afraid of his friends and there was nothing that he could do about it. It was one of the many wounds that he carried from three years of being away from home and fighting for his life. He was afraid of trusting anyone but Agumon anymore.

He, Tai Kamiya, was afraid of trusting people again. Once upon a time that would have been unthinkable, and the being afraid part almost still was, after all Tai had faced down some of the most evil digimon that had ever existed in several different dimensions, but the trusting part, that was completely believable, if you knew his past.

Tai thought about all of this as he stared at the computer screen, and memories that he tried not to think about came back into his head.

_~Flashback~_

~Lost Ford~

Tai Kamiya watched calmly as the approaching horde of demon type digimon rushed towards him. He was standing with about ten high level vaccine type digimon, waiting for them to get closer. Tai had been fighting here in this dimension for nearly a year now, and he smiled in anticipation of what he hoped would be the final battle.

It had been nearly two years since Tai had been transported away from home into an alternative dimension, and while he hadn't given up trying to get home, he wasn't in as much of a hurry as he had been the first year. This was mostly due to the other digidestined that he had found in this world.

"Ok, their nearly in position." Tai said into his wrist mounted digivice, a result of his first year of travelling dimensions and the need to repair his damaged digivice. One of the, many, new functions that had been added to it was a communication device.

"Ok, we'll be waiting," A female voice replied to Tai, and then much more quietly, "Make sure your careful Tai."

Tai smiled at the concern in her voice and brought his digivice back up to his mouth.

"I always am Jane." Tai replied before closing the communication function. Tai's portion of the plan was the most dangerous, the reason he had set it aside for himself, but Jane being concerned for him was nothing new. The two had been an, item you could say, for nearly six months now.

Jane and her two friends were this dimensions digidestined. Tai had found in his dimensional travels, of which this was the third dimension he had visited outside of his own, that pretty much every one had their own digidestined, or some variation of them.

The ones in this dimension had been gathering forces to combat the trans-dimensional invasion of a group of powerful evil digimon. They'd been lucky enough to have forewarning of the invasion and were preparing themselves to fight them. Tai had come upon them when one of the advanced parties from the dimensional attackers had attacked them. He'd been able to help them fight it off, and offered to help them fight.

Together the four of them had gathered the digimon of this world into a force capable of resisting the attack that was coming. Over the course of the preparation Tai had grown very close to the three, and they filled a void that had been left in his life for nearly a year.

Then there was Jane, who filled a void that had been with Tai for an even longer amount of time. She was the first women to ever take his mind off of his childhood best friend, Sora Takenouchi.

When the invasion had finally happened, about two months before now, the attackers had not found an unsuspecting world like they expected.

Of course, things still hadn't gone very well. While most battles this dimension had held its own against the attackers several pivotal had gone wrong, and the defenders forces almost totally wiped out.

That's why today's battle was so important. The defenders forces were almost depleted, despite the fact that they had been winning all but a handful of the battles, and they needed to deal a crippling blow to the attackers. That's what this plan was for, and Tai was its bait.

He, and the digimon with him, were to lure out a fairly significant force from the enemies main stronghold while Jane and the others waited with another, even more powerful group, to hit them from behind when the moment was right. It was a risky plan, but one Tai felt they could pull off.

"Here they come!" BanchoLeomon, Tai's principle digimon subordinate, shouted as the horde of demons got closer.

"Alright, you ready Agumon?" Tai asked, turning to his best friend and digimon partner. Agumon nodded in reply to Tai, jumping up with the other digimon assembled.

Tai took a deep breath, and then extended his right arm out. He snapped his finger and a stream of white data appeared covering his hand. He then threw his hand straight into the air, balling it up into a fist, which caused the data to expand to cover his entire body.

"D.N.A.! FULL! CHARGE!" Tai shouted as he swiped his hand over the screen of his digivice. Agumon was suddenly covered in light as energy poured from Tai's digivice.

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to! BurningGreymon!" Agumon digivolved straight into his Ultimate-Level form, bypassing his Champion-Level form as he prepared for battle. His ultimate form was far different from MetalGreymon, his old ultimate level form. He was covered in a thick red hide over most of his body with black and yellow portions running down the center of his chest and covering his knees, with orange wings spread out on his back. His head was covered in a white mask, different from the usual brown of normal Greymon. On each of his arms were the yellow Rudori Tarpana.

Tai wasn't finished though. BurningGreymon was powerful for an Ultimate-Level digimon, but he couldn't stand up to a single Mega-Level, let alone the hordes approaching, at least, not without some help from Tai.

He held a single card in his right hand now, and swiped it through the card swiper built into his digivice.

"Digi-Modify! Power Boost Activate!" Tai shouted as he used the card to power up BurningGreymon.

BurningGreymon stepped forward with nine of the other digimon and brought forward his Rudori Tarpana.

"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon shouted, though Tai could barely distinguish his attack from the nine others that were shouted at the same time.

BanchoLeomon was standing with Tai waiting for the enemy to get closer as he had no long range attacks of his own.

The demons were fairly easily mowed down by the nine Mega-Level vaccine digimon and BurningGreymon. They were mostly Ultimate-Levels, sent forward to wear down Tai's party before the more powerful Mega-Levels attacked. It was a disgusting, and wasteful, tactic, but the enemy had the numbers for it.

Tai watched as several of the digimon took to the skies in an attempt to divert some of Tai's groups's fire.

"BurningGreymon!" Tai shouted to his partner, who glanced back. Tai pointed towards the digimon in the sky and BurningGreymon nodded. The two of them were the perfect team, able to tell what the other meant with a single gesture at times. There was almost no way for them to be closer.

"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon shouted as he pointed his arm up towards the flying digimon. Dozens of solar heat-wave bullets flew out from him and hit the flying digimon. Not only was BurningGreymon able to fire a large amount of individual blasts, but his shots were extremely accurate, almost everyone hitting a digimon.

"Tai…" BanchoLeomon said causing Tai to look back towards the main attack. The Mega-Levels had finally arrived.

"Draw them in a little more!" Tai shouted, loudly enough for all of his party to hear him. BurningGreymon returned his fire back to the advancing Mega-Levels as he finished sweeping the sky clear of enemies. That's when it happened.

If Tai hadn't been looking out over the attacking forces towards where he knew his friends waited, he wouldn't have caught the explosions that occurred there.

"NO!" Tai shouted, taking a step forward. BanchoLeomon looked at Tai for a second, then towards where he was looking. His own eyes widened, but he grabbed a hold of Tai, stopping him.

"Tai, there's nothing you can do." BanchoLeomon exclaimed as Tai attempted to get out of the Mega-Level digimon's grip.

Meanwhile the demons were pushing closer, and starting to attack back. Two of the digimon holding the line had already been deleted, and the rest couldn't last much longer.

"We need to get out of he…" BanchoLeomon let out a gasp instead of finishing his sentence, and Tai turned towards him after being dropped to the ground.

Protruding from his chest was a flaming flexible sword that was quite familiar to Tai, as was the digimon standing behind BanchoLeomon holding the sword.

The tall armored dragon holding the sword withdrew it, and in one swift motion sliced through BanchoLeomon from the top of his head straight to the ground.

Tai was too shocked to react at first, and then he let out an incomprehensible cry of anguish. BanchoLeomon had been Tai's primary digimon deputy, and one of his closest advisors and friends in this dimension.

The digimon, Slayerdramon, just took a step back, which is when Tai noticed how quiet things were around him, just before there was a crash behind him.

Tai turned slowly and saw BurningGreymon collapsed on the ground while two digimon stood where the line of Tai's digimon had once stood. Behind them the demons were all standing still, as if waiting for something. Tai's attention however was still on the digimon in front of them.

The tall dragon digimon with large purple wings was Dorugoramon while its white armored companion was Dynasmon. All three of these digimon were familiar to Tai for a very good reason; they belonged to Jane and the other two digidestined for this universe.

Almost on cue Jane stepped up from behind Dynasmon's leg, looking down at the injured BurningGreymon in contempt, just before turning the same look to Tai. Tai was shocked at that look since Jane had never shown anything but compassion to Tai.

"Jane?" Tai managed to start, "Wha…what's going on?"

She let out a laugh, far less cute and friendly that the one Tai was used to.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked through her laughter. "Ending this foolish resistance."

"Wha…What?" Tai asked again, not understanding what she meant.

Jane let out another laugh. "You really are that naive aren't you? We aren't really from this dimension. We were sent here to help prepare this world for Lord Lucemon's take over, and you helped us do that!"

"No, that can't be true…" Tai struggled to say as Jane continued to laugh at him. "What about us?"

"Us?" Jane asked as she once more let out a bark of laughter. "There was no us, as if anyone could really love you."

Tai didn't reply to this, instead clenching a fist as Jane continued to laugh. Suddenly he let out a shout of pure anger, seconds before becoming covered in a cloud of white data once more. This time the data looked like it was on fire as Tai shouted even louder.

BurningGreymon suddenly shot up, shout as well while his eyes glowed red.

_~UnFlashback~_

Tai shuddered at what had happened next. His rage had almost cost him his one and only remaining friend once again. Of course Tai was shuddering from the entire experience. Having three people that had become almost family for Tai turn and betray him like that had caused a lot of emotional turmoil for Tai. Especially Tai. He had felt betrayed by actions of certain of his friends just before being sent on his dimensional adventure, and he was a trusting person, always giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and to have that trust turned and used against you was one of the worst things that could happen to him.

Not only was he hurt by those events, but it affected how he acted now. The only person he felt he could trust was Agumon, because he was scarred of being hurt like he had been again.

_Stop worrying about it…_ Tai thought to himself, closing his eyes for a second. _Focus on protecting the people you care about. Then you can work out your issues…_

Tai opened his eyes at this point and noticed something he hadn't before. Three of the dots representing his friends were no longer in Odaiba. They looked like they were at a movie theater, in the Shibuya district. Tai felt his gut tighten as he looked at those dots.

_Something's going to happen there. I know it._ Tai thought to himself, standing just as the door burst open.

Agumon walked in carrying several bags full of food. He saw Tai and greeted him.

"Hi Tai!"

"Agumon, I think we might have trouble." Tai said in reply, and Agumon looked at his partner over the bags. Tai was in his completely serious face, and Agumon put the bags down.

"What is it?"

"Three of the digidestined are outside Odaiba, and I've got a feeling that something's going to happen." Tai said, and if Agumon had heard it from anyone else he would have put it off to paranoia, but Agumon knew Tai, if his gut said something was going to happen, then it was.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Agumon exclaimed, and Tai smiled a slightly bigger than normal smile.

The two headed out the door, Agumon returning to Tai's wrist digivice as Tai took off down the street. He hoped he'd be able to get there fast enough, Shibuya was pretty far away and Tai didn't have a car.

~Shibuya~

Tai was just entering the Shibuya district when his digivice went off. He pulled it up and the holographic projector threw up a map showing two red dots, representing someone who was Tai's enemy.

"Damn it, not another one." Tai said under his breath as he paused to catch his breath. He'd managed to decrease the time to get here using Tokyo's public transportation system, but he'd had to keep his head down. One of the first days here someone had recognized him, and freaked out. Tai had managed to piece together that Odaiba thought he was dead, having died defending the city from the digimon that had sent him to another dimension. It had made him into a sort of martyr, a hero of sorts and his face was known all over Tokyo.

Since then Tai had done his best to avoid being noticed. Having rumors of him returning to the dead would start a panic and blow what little bit of cover he still had left.

Tai sprinted forwards toward the source of the signal. He didn't know where they were coming from, but he needed to stop them. This was the Sovereign's dimension and if Lucemon's followers were allowed to defeat the digidestined then things would not go well if they managed to invade.

That was a very minor part, in Tai's mind, of the reason that Tai was here, stopping that from happening. Of course it allowed him to protect his friends, which is what he considered his main reason for being here. They may have sounded like the exact same thing but to Tai there was a difference.

Tai had set himself the mission of protecting as many of the alternate dimensions that Lucemon attacked that he could. Usually the best way to do this was to save the digidestined, or that dimensions equivalent, and teach them how to fight the Demon Lords' minions. That was the main reason Tai felt this was different. It was his dimension that he was helping to save, and his friends he was helping.

Before Tai could get much closer to the location of the three digidestined in this district there was a huge explosion.

"What was that?" Agumon asked from Tai's digivice as people started screaming and running away from the direction that the explosion had come from.

"I'd say the digimon that's here to attack our friends." Tai said quietly, slowing his pace and instead calmly walking through the crowd. He stopped trying to hide his face, since most people weren't paying attention to who they were running past anymore in their haste.

"Well looks like your gut was right once again Tai." Agumon said, and Tai knew if he looked at his friend he would see a smile on his face.

"Yep, I kinda wish it hadn't been, since it means another fight." Tai said in the same conversational voice. Most people would have started to panic by now, or at least get excited, but Tai had seen too much over the last three years to be fazed by an explosion, or running people.

Tai pulled his arm up, and with a little bit of manipulation on his digivice pulled up a map of the area, complete with the location of the digidestined and the attacking digimon. He saw the three digidestined on the main road through the district, which allowed him to breathe easier. The attack wasn't directed at them it seemed, so they should be safe, which would allow Tai to deal with the attacking digimon.

Tai moved further, searching for a path to the digimon, and he finally found it.

_I knew this was too easy._ Tai thought, looking at the crowd that was pushing through the road he was planning on using. _How am I supposed to get through that?_

Before Tai could decide what to do a black and blue shape jumped over the crowd and Tai recognized it. It was one of the armor forms of Davis's digimon. Tai thought for a moment before remembering his name.

"Raidramon." Tai said aloud to himself. Before he could do or say anything else Raidramon, with Davis on his back Tai noticed, jumped over the crowd again, heading towards the square with the digimon in it.

"Look Tai!" Agumon called out, and Tai looked at the screen with Agumon in it, to see him pointing towards the sky. Tai looked up and saw what looked like a flying horse, golden outline visible even from the ground, which he recognized as T.K.'s digimon.

"Well so much for them being out of the way." Tai said to himself, and Agumon thought he was talking to him.

"What Tai?" He asked.

"Sorry Agumon, I thought that those three would stay away and make our job easier. I should have known better, especially with Davis." Tai said, smiling a little at the thought of his old protégé.

Tai went straight towards the crowd, and started to push his way against them. _This is really not working well…_

Tai looked around, and climbed up one of the potted plants that lined the street. He was now above the crowd, but had no way to move towards where he needed to be. Tai looked around and spotted a fire escape leading into one of the buildings. He jumped over to where it was and was getting ready to start climbing it.

"Tai what are you doing?" Agumon asked from Tai's digivice.

"Trying to get to the square." Tai replied, looking at the fire escape once again.

"Why don't you let me clear a path? Those guys will run away from a dinosaur." Agumon said, and Tai paused in his preparations to jump.

"Now why didn't I think about that?" Tai asked, turning and letting Agumon out of the digivice.

"You prefer much more dramatic plans." Agumon said with a smile as he materialized. He then ran right into the crowd, and shouted. "Ah a monster!" He waved his arms in the air, and people actually scattered out of his way, already spooked by the explosion.

Tai did his best to refrain from laughing as he ran behind his partner. He hadn't really expected Agumon to get anyone out of the way, but his partner had. They finally cleared the end of the crowd, and ran down the street, heading for the square where all five of the signals that Tai was tracking on his digivice were now coming from.

The square came into view for Tai and Agumon just as Veemon finished digivolving into Magnamon, lighting up the entire square.

_Nice! Two Ultimate-Levels, and another digimon with the power of a Mega-Level. Maybe they won't need my help…_ Tai thought, looking for the two opponents. He saw the three humans turn with their digimon towards the empty center of the square. _They moved too slow…These guys have to move faster…_

Tai watched a pumpkin hit each of the digimon, and send them crashing to the ground, and then heard another attack shouted. He had seen this attack used before, and knew instantly what was happening. _Get out of there now!_ Tai thought at them, willing them to move. _Why don't you shout to them?_ Another part of him asked, and he opened his mouth to shout a warning, only to have Magnamon beat him to it.

Tai noticed that Davis and T.K. had been separated from Kari, and saw Davis knock T.K. to the ground, recognizing the danger. Kari just froze in place.

_Kari!_ Tai thought, dashing forward right into the kill zone, something he would never have done in the other dimensions. He managed to reach her a second before the attack struck, knocking her to the ground, and protecting her with his own body.

The Galactic Flare attack hit all around them, and Tai was waiting for one to hit him any second.

_Think you dolt! Or you're finished!_ Tai thought to himself as he tried to think of a way out. Then it hit him, an easy way to recover from this. He cursed under his breath not thinking of this earlier. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his cards, looking for a specific one, which he found pretty quickly.

He slid the card through his digivice, not calling out the modification since Agumon wouldn't be able to hear it, so he'd have to feel it. Luckily he and his partner were very experienced and could almost read each other's minds because the explosions stopped suddenly. Tai got off of Kari and looked at Agumon who was holding a glowing piece of paper.

"Thanks Agumon." Tai said to his partner who nodded. Magnamon was slowly getting to his feet, his golden armor smoking from the attacks that had hit him. He picked up the unconscious Rookie-Level forms of T.K. and Kari's digimon.

"Tai!" Tai turns to see that his sister had finally realized who had saved her. Before he can do anything she runs right to him and embraces him in a huge bear hug. Tai is completely frozen for a moment, then returns his sisters embrace.

They both took a step back after a few seconds, and Tai could see that Kari had tears in her eyes.

"Where have you been?" She asks, and Tai opens his mouth to respond, just as there is a flash of light. Tai looks past Kari, who turns. The two digimon are blasting the bubble that they are standing in with everything they have, attempting to destroy it.

"First things first." Tai said, and Kari gave him a stubborn look, one that Tai hadn't seen in years or ever from Kari, it was the one Sora used when she was getting ready to get something out of Tai.

_Now why would Kari be copying one of Sora's faces? Must be all the time they spent together as kids, and I just never noticed…_ Tai thought to himself.

"I think you owe me, owe us an explanation." Kari said, and Tai nodded.

"I'll give you one, but there are bigger problems to worry about." Tai said, and when Kari gave him the stubborn look again he sighed. _Man, usually she'd just listen to me, where'd she pick up this stubborn streak? _"I promise I'll tell you everything you want to know Kari, just not right this second." Tai said that as Kari was opening her mouth, which she promptly closed, then nodded her head.

Tai really meant what he said; he may have his trust issues with most of his friends, but not with his sister. Not only had the two of them been much closer than most siblings were, she was family, and if you couldn't trust your family you literally couldn't trust anyone.

Kari took a step back, and Davis and T.K. came up next, but stopped as Tai held up a hand. "We've got a little problem to take care of, and then we can do pleasantries." Both of the boys took a step back at Tai's tone of voice.

Tai hadn't meant for that to come out that cold, but they were being attacked, and he was trying to distance himself somewhat. He couldn't become emotionally attached to them again, because it had been proven to him that it would only end in pain for him, at least that's what he told himself.

"Davis, see if Magnamon can still fight." Tai continued, his voice thawing a bit. Try as he might he was really happy to see all of these guys, especially Davis and T.K. One was his protégé and the other was his best friends little brother, how could he not be glad to see them.

_This is why I ran away…_ Tai thought to himself as Davis talked to his partner.

"It'll take more than some rock to knock me out!" Magnamon declared, giving Patamon and Salamon back to their partners.

"Good," Tai says, pulling his wrist up, and calling up the information on the two digimon. "Pumpkinmon and Meteormon. Both Data type digimon, so only virus attacks will be effective." Tai paused for a minute, looking thoughtful, and then shook his head. "Knew I should have gotten some virus attacks, so I guess this one's calling for digivolving." Tai said all of this to himself while his sister and two friends looked back and forth between him and the digivice on his wrist.

"Wow Tai, where'd you get that thing?" Davis asked as he looked at the digivice on Tai's wrist.

"Long story Davis." Tai said, in a normal tone, focusing on the battle that was about to happen. "I'll tell you about it in a minute. Magnamon!" Tai called out to Davis's partner who turned to Tai. "Take care of Pumpkinmon, me and Agumon will deal with Meteormon."

The golden armored digimon nodded, and Tai turned to Agumon. "You ready?"

Agumon nodded, throwing the card in his hand onto the ground, running forward with Magnamon.

The three humans looked at the charging rookie, and then turned to Tai, who extended his right arm out away from his body. He then snapped his finger and white data appeared around his fist.

"What?" T.K. managed to get out as the glowing data surrounded Tai's hand. Kari and Davis were too stunned to really say anything at all.

Tai brought his left arm parallel to his body and swiped his glowing right fist in front of the digivice on his wrist. "D.N.A. Charge!" Tai shouted, and a blast of light flashed from his digivice and engulfed Agumon.

"Agumon digivolve to! GeoGreymon!" Agumon transformed from a small yellow dinosaur into a giant orange dinosaur with blue stripes running around his body. The three digidestined had all seen Agumon's Champion-Level before, but this wasn't exactly the same.

Not only was his name different, but there were subtle differences in his look as well. He seemed to be thinner than Greymon, and a pair of spikes coming out of his shoulder. The three digidestined didn't really know if these really made any difference to the digimon, but he ran forward beside Magnamon still.

Tai though, wasn't finished. He pulled out several cards from a deck holder on his belt.

"Digi-Modify! Power Boost Activate!" Tai shouted, swiping one of the cards he'd pulled out through his digivice, then quickly switched the card with another one.

"Digi-Modify! Speed Boost Activate!" Tai swiped another card through the digivice and suddenly GeoGreymon disappeared.

Tai didn't immediately swipe the other three cards he had in his hands, but rather held them ready. Davis was far too curious a person, and the whole Digi-Modifying thing was way too interesting, to not walk up to Tai to see what he was doing.

"What was all that Tai?" He asked, and Tai glanced at him through the corner of his eye. _Well this is just great…who thought it would be harder to not trust your friends than to trust them in the first place._

_What harm could come of telling Davis?_

_Easy._ The nasty voice, the voice that always seemed to appear when Tai was thinking about trusting someone other than Agumon. _He'll turn on you too, and then one of your advantages will be worse than useless!_

Usually Tai just listened to this voice despite the fact that he knew it was wrong. It always seemed to bring back the memories Jane and the others conjured up, just mentioning them. Tai felt that it was some sort of self-defense mechanism, and had only managed to not listen to it once, at the Dimensional Gate. Now he was going to do it again.

"I just modified GeoGreymon's data." Tai said pulling out the two cards he had swiped. As he was doing this Magnamon reached Pumpkinmon and proceeded to throw him up into the air. He then appeared behind the tiny Ultimate-Level digimon, and preceded to body slam him into the ground. Pumpkinmon was hopelessly out matched by the powerful Royal Knight. Meteormon obviously felt that he could help his partner, because he started moving towards the battling digimon.

Before he could get too close to them though, he was suddenly thrown across the circle.

"This one," Tai said, holding up the Speed Boost card. "Modifies a digimon's data, giving them extra speed, a lot of extra speed." Meteormon got off of the ground only to be thrown into one of the surrounding buildings.

"So that's what's happening to Meteormon, GeoGreymon's moving too fast to be seen!" Davis exclaimed, catching on quickly. Tai nodded, and then pulled up the Power Boost card.

"This one gives a digimon a huge power boost, pretty much bringing it up to its next level without digivoluton." Tai said, as Meteormon was thrown around once more. Magnamon meanwhile was hitting Pumpkinmon over and over again with repeated kicks.

"So that's why you didn't have Greymon, or GeoGreymon, whatever, digivolve any further." T.K. said, joining the conversation. Tai nodded glad that his friends didn't need him to spell everything out for them.

"Magna Blast!" There was a sudden explosion of light and the four humans turned to see Pumpkinmon fully delete with Magnamon hovering in the air in front of him. Magnamon hovered there for a second before reverting to his In-Training-Level form, DemiVeemon.

Meteormon crashed into the center of the square, and barely managed to get to his feet as the four humans turned to him.

"Mega Flame!" A deep voice shouted as a burst of massive red fire shot out and hit Meteormon, who shouted in pain as the fiery blast hit him. The burst ended after about ten seconds and as the smoke cleared from the attack the humans could see that the ground in the center of the square was scorched from the fire.

The three digidestined all were surprised to see that Meteormon was still there, struggling to rise.

"Seems like this guy just doesn't want to quit." Tai said quietly, and then held up the three cards still in his hand. He looked at the three digidestined and held the cards up. "Pick a card." He said simply, a small smile on his face. The three digidestined were a little surprised, and none of them moved for a second, then Davis moved forward and picked a card.

Tai smiled as he saw the one he had picked. _Of course Davis would pick that card…_

Davis looked at the card and his eyes widened.

"One of the other things you can do with Digi-Modifying is add a digimon's special attack to your digimon's data." Tai said, taking the card from Davis, and starting his card swipe.

"Digi-Modify! Paildramon's Desperado Blaster Activate!" GeoGreymon, who had stopped moving so fast that you could not see him, lifted his arms up as a pair of blasters appeared at his hips. They were identical to the ones that Davis and Ken's digimon's DNA digivolved form carried.

"Desperado Blaster!" He shouted unleashing a torrent of energy blasts that hit Meteormon, and after a second of firing finally deleted him. GeoGreymon glowed for a second as he returned to Agumon.

"That was awesome!" Davis shouted, pumping a fist into the air as T.K. and Kari both laughed. Tai just smiled his little smile. After a few seconds Kari turned to Tai.

"Ok Tai, time to spill." Kari said, walking up to her brother. Tai took a deep breath and nodded.

"Ok Kari, I promised, but not here. It's to exposed and open. Whoever keeps attacking you guys will be sure to have someone watching this battle." Tai said, looking around the square as if he expected something to pop out and attack them.

"Ok," Kari said, then smiled. "We can go back to our apartment; everyone there will love to see you."

Tai nodded, thinking Kari was referring to their parents. "Sounds good to me. It'll be good to see mom and dad."

"Yea and…ouch!" Davis said after Tai had spoken, stopping as Kari stepped on his foot. Tai looked at them, and they both smiled, Davis painfully.

"Actually Tai, I don't think going to your apartment would be the best idea…" Agumon spoke up, causing all of the humans to look at him.

"Why's that Agumon?" Tai asked.

"Well…" Agumon said, quickly trying to come up with a reason. He saw the injured and tired Rookie-Level digimon, and continued. "Those three are exhausted, they probably need to rest."

Tai nodded, looking at his sister and her friend's digimon.

"Also," Agumon added, coming up with an excuse to not go to the Kamiya apartment, "the bad guys would expect us to go to your apartment."

Tai nodded again, accepting the logic. He then turned to the others. "Ok, we'll meet at T.K.'s apartment, tomorrow night. Just the three of you and me."

The two boys nodded, but Kari looked stubborn. "What about the rest of us Tai? You've been gone for three years, and we thought you were dead! Everyone deserves an explanation!"

Tai knew Kari was right, in absolutely every way, but he couldn't see all of the digidestined, or rather one or two specific digidestined, right now. Not yet.

"Kari, please, you just have to trust me. Just the three of you, and I'll see the others as soon as possible." Tai pleaded with his sister.

She gave him the same stubborn look as before, but as she looked right into his eyes she saw a hidden pain, and that was driving his avoidance of his friends.

Kari nodded her expression returning to a more normal for Kari one, then hugged Tai.

"You had better be there Tai, I already had to go through losing you once, and I can't bear the thought of doing it again."

Tai hugged her back, nodding his head. The two siblings released their embrace, and separated.

"You guys be watchful for any other attacks." Tai said looking specifically at T.K. and Davis, then turned back to Kari. "Well, until tomorrow then." Tai said, and he and Agumon turned and walked away.

_Ok, so some looks at Tai's abilities this chapter. Any of you who aren't fans of Data Squad won't have noticed the digivolution he used, but that's where it comes from. Also, BurningGreymon, technically isn't a normal digivolution, but I wanted to use him for this story. He'll be considered an Ultimate level. Now I know Agumon's digivolutions are really, really screwy, please just give it some time. I have an explanation for that, and Tai himself will be explaining that in two chapter, so for now, please just trust me. Ok that's my plea, until next time!_

_Preview:_

**Come on…come on…I've got you this time! Izzy exclaimed to himself in his head as he got closer and closer to the source of the access. Seconds before he was about to figure out exactly who it was the program cut out, foiled again.**

"**So what was DemiVeemon's Ultimate form?" Joe asked. He had always wondered what the younger digidestined's digimon would digivolve to, since they had never had Crests of their own to power that digivoluton, Joe had figured he would never find out.**

_Review replies:_

_OmegaMan133: Thanks, and a little. I had written most of it before our conversation, but I changed some afterwards. And yea, I put that in there purposely. I'm not trying to hide it, this is a Tai is super awesome story, so that was needed._

_Edasama: Yea, I found that was the best for him, and that's from his need to protect them. Is that clear after this chapter? And a little of both lol._

_Supershooter: thanks! And yea, I always try and show that bond, because it's supposed to be there…and hey, I have to keep people interested somehow! Lol_

_Odinson83: Yea, it was a shocker for me way back when the first time I saw that. And yea, I try and keep stuff accurate. Did Tai's digivolution turn out as expected?_

_TaioraWarrior: haha nice. And yea, I could see Veemon doing that pretty easily lol. Yea, I thought It would be good, and another good opportunity to have Tai show up because the DD were too slow. And don't worry about it, this was a long wait so no worries._

_DephsXylex: so was the one day wait so bad? Lol Yea, I liked bring them back as well. And yea, Tai has to save everyone, especially Kari. That's their whole strong bond bit._

_Angelfish369: This! And I did! I did! lol_


	8. Izzy Finds Some Answers

_Ok, so here we are with a new chapter, not as long as the last one, but it should do some explaining, at least from the digidestined side of things. Enjoy._

_Disclaimer: So if anyone were looking for a good Christmas present, well the digimon franchise would be awesome, since I don't own it._

**Chapter 7 Izzy Finds Some Answers**

Izzy Izumi typed away at his computer trying to find some answers to a question that had bothered him for nearly two days now. There was something else in the systems that Izzy had made specifically for the digidestined, in fact more than one something.

Izzy had set up an entire computer network designed for the digidestined a few years ago. It had seemed like a logical thing to do to him, since now any one of them would be able to use their D-Terminals to access the different programs that Izzy had made over the years.

They could get into the digimon analyzer data base from their D-Terminals now, use the digimon finder function to find their own digimon or any strays that were running around Tokyo, or find their fellow digidestined through their digivices at almost any range. All of those functions were very useful to the digidestined, but over the last week or so it had been accessed by someone else, someone Izzy didn't know.

He had made the central node of the network in his parent's apartment, since his college apartment was too small for the multiple systems he needed to run the program so he had make time to check up on the system while he was staying here over the break. They had held the meeting in his and Joe's apartment the day before since it was more centrally located than his parent's apartment. He had been preforming some rather routine checks when he stumbled upon this problem.

_Come on…come on…I've got you this time!_ Izzy thought to himself in his head as he got closer and closer to the source of the access. Seconds before he was about to figure out exactly who it was, the program cut out, foiled again.

"Son of a bitch!" Izzy shouted, shoving himself away from his computer desk. He wasn't usually one to curse, but he had been trying to crack this all night, literally, and had been so close this time…

"You know Izzy, you really shouldn't curse like that at home." A voice said from Izzy's doorway, causing him to spin around. Joe Kido was standing in the doorway to his room, looking at him, Bukamon hovering next to his shoulder.

"Hey Joe." Izzy said as he saw who it was. Since everyone was on a break from college, Joe had been over to visit pretty much every day. He'd been there for a good portion of the night last night while Izzy was trying to track down the person accessing Izzy's network.

"Still no luck I take it?" Joe asked as he carefully worked his way across Izzy's bedroom, while Bukamon settled on Izzy dresser for a nap. The place was honestly trashed from all of the empty Mountain Dew cans and pizza boxes, not to mention other items Izzy had started to throw around the room in frustration the night before.

Izzy was usually not one to get angry and actually throw things around, Joe knew this pretty well, but the elusiveness of this person was really getting to him. He'd been bad enough when Joe had left, just after midnight the night before, but the state of his room clearly showed how much this intrusion was bothering him.

Joe knew that Izzy was usually somewhat of a neat freak, despite the sheer amount of gadgets that usually inhabited their apartment, after all the two of them were roommates at their college. After the incident with Parallelmon three years ago Izzy had decided to stop spending time in high school. It sounds sort of odd for someone to decide that, but Izzy actually had the intelligence to decide when he graduated high school. He finished out that year, which was his junior year, and ended up graduating with the same class as Sora and Matt.

Joe knew he could have skipped any grade that he wanted; all the digidestined knew that, but he'd never done that, content with just excelling in his classes rather than needing to skip any grades, but that had changed when Tai died. Joe had talked to Izzy about it once, and he'd told him that he didn't want to waste any more time learning useless things in high school.

So the two lived together, and knew each other very well, but Joe still had never seen Izzy in this much of a craze.

Izzy didn't even look up to respond to Joe's question, grunting instead as he typed something else into the computer.

Joe knocked some stuff, what looked like a bunch of week old pizza boxes, though they hadn't been there the night before when Joe had been over.

_How did he get this place so messy?_ Joe wonders to himself after clearing off his seat.

"So Izzy, you want to tell me why this is bothering you so much?" Joe asked, and Izzy ignored him for another few seconds, before pushing himself back from his desk in disgust.

"Izzy?"

"Huh? Oh sorry Joe, what did you ask?" Izzy said, sounding very unlike himself.

Joe sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I asked if you wanted to tell me what was bothering you so much."

"Oh," Izzy replied, and leaned back in his chair, thinking about how best to answer Joe. Before he could answer though his door burst open, and the second uninvited person barged into Izzy's room that morning.

"Davis?" The two college students ask looking at the goggle headed boy who was muttering to himself. Davis ignored them continuing his mutterings, placing his bag on Izzy's bed, and then sitting next to it, all while looking down at something hanging around his neck.

"Davis!" Both college students called out again, louder this time, causing Davis to look up.

"Hey guys." He replied, seeming to come out of his little trance.

"Davis what are you doing here?" Joe asked, wondering why the goggle headed boy was visiting Izzy's house. It wasn't that the two weren't friends; they just didn't really visit each other that often.

"And where's T.K.?" Izzy added, referring to Davis's near constant companion. Those two did almost everything together, at least since the incident three years ago.

"Geez Izzy, I do go places without T.K., on occasion." Davis said, crossing his arms indignantly. DemiVeemon poked his head out of the bag that Davis had left on the bed.

"Really? I can't remember the last time you went somewhere without…ouch!" DemiVeemon was saying until Davis promptly dropped his fist on top of his head. Izzy and Joe both had to turn their heads so Davis wouldn't see their laughter as his digimon gave him away.

"Ok, so maybe T.K. and I hang out a lot, but that doesn't mean I can't go places on my own!" Davis said and Joe and Izzy finally broke down into laughter, despite their best efforts.

"So Davis where were you just before this?" Izzy asked a smirk on his face. Davis looked like he was trying to come up with some excuse but DemiVeemon beat him to the punch.

"We were at the Kamiya's with Kari and T.K.!" He exclaimed, just before Davis reached for him, but DemiVeemon was ready for him this time, jumping away from Davis's reach.

"You better watch out…" Davis said as DemiVeemon stuck his tongue out at his partner. Davis sat back down while DemiVeemon decided to explore Izzy's closet.

"Ok, so I was at the Kamiya's, we got back pretty late last night, but I couldn't sleep." Davis said, and both Joe and Izzy were now intrigued, Davis absolutely loved his sleep, and was almost impossible to wake him up when they needed him to, so him not being able to sleep was a major concern.

"And why's that Davis?" Izzy asked,

"Well, this is one thing," Davis said, and held out what he had been looking at around his neck. Izzy reached out, but stopped as he saw what it was in his hand.

It was a Tag, something that Izzy had never expected to see ever again, and it had a Crest in it. A CREST! Izzy literally could not believe what he was seeing. The physical manifestations of the all of the Crest had been destroyed years ago, and their powers, though returned to them, hadn't been used in years, yet here was one before him.

As Izzy took the Crest out of Davis's hand, the faint golden glow that had been surrounding it disappeared, easily confirming for Izzy that the Crest belonged to Davis. But what Crest was it? Izzy didn't recognize the symbol on it at all, though it did look familiar…

"Where did you find a Crest Davis?" Joe asked having recognized what was in Izzy's hand.

"It happened last night." Davis started, as Izzy pulled up his laptop. "We got attacked again and when Kari and T.K. were trying to get their digimon to go to ultimate, this light came from my digivice and that came out!"

"That's amazing…" Joe said looking at the Crest over Izzy's shoulder. Suddenly there was a loud sound and DemiVeemon came flying out of the closet.

"Davis! There's a monster in there!" DemiVeemon shouts running to hide behind Davis's leg. Davis stands up, looking towards the closet, just as Tentomon comes out of the closet, rubbing his head. Everyone looked at Tentomon, who had obviously been sleeping in the closet, to DemiVeemon who was still hiding behind Davis's leg, and bursts into laughter.

"Well…He looked like a monster in the closet!" DemiVeemon said as Tentomon returned to what he called "his closet" telling DemiVeemon not to disturb his sleep again.

Davis just smiles, patting DemiVeemon's head as Joe turns back to him.

"So what was DemiVeemon's Ultimate form?" Joe asked. He had always wondered what the younger digidestined's digimon would digivolve to, since they had never had Crests of their own to power that digivoluton, Joe had figured he would never find out.

"Well…" Davis started, "He didn't exactly digivolve to _ultimate_, he went straight to mega, I think."

"Wow! That's amazing! Was he anything like Imperialdramon? Or was he just like a bigger version of ExVeemon?" Joe asked, honestly intrigued. Only Tai, Matt, and Sora's digimon had reached the mega level other than the Mega Level DNA digimon Imperialdramon.

"Well, actually he digivolved into Magnamon." Davis said, and Joe was puzzled. Davis said that like the name should mean something to him, and the name did sound vaguely familiar…

"Ah ha!" Izzy shouted, causing Joe to jump. "That's it! Magnamon!" Joe looked over at Izzy who had started typing furiously on his laptop, finally pulling up a digimon on his laptop. It was a digimon covered in a golden armor, with a strange symbol on his armor.

_Why does that look familiar…_ Joe thought, then remembered. Veemon had gained that form in the final showdown with the digimon Emperor!

"Davis, what did you say that digiegg you found in Ken's base was called?" Izzy asked from his laptop.

"Umm…" Davis said, thinking for a second, and then snapped his finger. "Oh yea, the Digiegg of Miracles!"

Izzy again typed furiously on his keyboard, and suddenly an image appeared in his screen. A golden digiegg with the exact same symbol on it as Magnamon, and Davis's Crest.

"Prodigous." Izzy said quietly looking at the egg, and then back at the Crest. "Davis, can I see your digivice and your D-Terminal?"

"Sure." Davis replied quickly, pulling out both of the items out of his pockets, and handing them to Izzy. Izzy quickly plugged both into his computer, and was then quickly caught back up by his computer.

Joe and Davis were left, with DemiVeemon, sitting in Izzy's room as he furiously typed on his computer.

"So you said there was something else keeping you up?" Joe asked, curious as to what could match getting a Crest in keeping someone up.

"Yea," Davis said, looking out the window in Izzy's room. "We ran into Tai last night."

"WHAT?" Joe shouted, almost simultaneously with Izzy, who spun around in his chair. Davis jumped off of Izzy's bed as the two older boys shouted at him. "You ran into Tai?"

"Yea, he helped us fight off these two digimon," Davis replied, sitting back down on the bed. DemiVeemon, who'd been thrown across the room when Davis had shot off the bed, cautiously returned to the bed next to Davis.

"And why didn't you tell us that?" Izzy asked, walking towards Davis.

"Izzy calm down, you were bothering him about the Crest the entire time, he didn't have the opportunity to." Joe told Izzy, having thought about the situation faster than the obviously exhausted Izzy.

"Right, sorry Davis, I'm pretty tired…" Izzy said, finally starting to feel the fatigue that he should have a long time before.

"It's fine Izzy. Why are you so tired?" Davis asked, completely forgetting about Joe's question, and Tai, at least for the minute.

Joe sighed as the Izzy dived into a very angry explanation of the unknown people that were accessing the digidestined network. Davis eyes glassed over almost immediately, and Joe was just a little angry they'd gotten side tracked for something Davis wasn't really going to understand, at least how Izzy was explaining it.

_Calm down Joe! _Joe told himself. _Tai's not going to magically appear at the apartment just because Davis tells you about the encounter, so be patient._

Joe managed to calm him down, just as Izzy realized that Davis wasn't really getting what he was saying.

"Davis!" He called out, and reacquired Davis's attention.

"Huh?" Davis said shaking his head, "Oh sorry Izzy, you know what techno talk does to me…" Davis was grinning sheepishly as he finished that up, causing Izzy just to shake his head.

"Well, basically what I was saying is that someone's accessing the network I set up for us digidestined." Izzy said summing up what he had been saying in one sentence.

"Oh, why didn't you just say that?" Davis said, and Izzy sighed. He was far too exhausted to deal with Davis right now.

"Say what?" A voice asked from the doorway, and the three digidestined looked up to see Kari and T.K. standing in the doorway.

"Hi guys!" Davis said to his two best friends, and then stifled yet another big yawn.

"What is today? Come and visit Izzy's house day?" Izzy asked as the third and fourth people to visit him that day walked in. Everyone seemed to be ignoring him though.

"Davis what are you doing out this early?" Kari asked, crossing her arms as she and T.K. walked the rest of the way into the room.

"Talking to Iz….zzzy!" Davis said, yawning again as he said Izzy's name. His eyes closed for a second, and he started to fall backwards, but the motion woke him right up. He shot almost right off the bed, and DemiVeemon was sent flying again.

"Geez Davis." T.K. said, trying to not laugh at his friend. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"He didn't. He was worried about this." Izzy replied, holding up Davis's Crest.

"And your little run in with Tai." Joe added, bringing Tai back into the conversation.

"You told him?" Kari asked Davis, who didn't respond to Kari at first, then let out a loud snore. He had passed out again, and this time managed to stay asleep. "Oh, never mind."

"Were you not going to tell us Kari?" Joe asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"No…" Kari started off, "we just wanted to let everyone know at one time, and from all three of us." She finished, and T.K. nodded from next to her. Joe and Izzy both nodded, accepting the answer. After all there were sure to be tons of questions, like the hundred or so in Joe's mind right now, that would be asked and they probably didn't want to go through that multiple times.

After that, Izzy turned back to his computer and Joe looked at the two younger digidestined.

"So what did happen?" Joe asked and the two proceeded to tell him about their night out in the Shibuya district, and the encounter with Pumpkinmon and Meteormon.

"…and as these meteors were hitting all around us, I was tackled to the ground." Kari said, getting to the part where Tai arrived. "It was Tai, arriving just in the nick of time."

"Yea, that sounds just like him…" Izzy, who had stopped typing at his computer to listen to the story, said, but stopped in the middle of his sentence. "…It's almost like he knew where you guys were…and that you were in danger…" Izzy continued, deep in thought. Suddenly his eyes widened in realization.

"That's it!" He said, jumping into the air with a shout.

"What's it?" The other three digidestined asked, completely confused.

"Tai's the one!" Izzy said excitedly, pacing around the window.

"The one?" T.K. asked, looking at Izzy even more confused than before.

"Yea! The one accessing our network!" Izzy exclaimed, causing Joe's eyes to widen with the same realization that Izzy's had, while Kari and T.K. were even more confused.

Izzy, with help from Joe, quickly explained why he had been up all night, and what he meant by accessing the network.

"But Izzy." Joe said after the genius had sat down again. "This is Tai we're talking about, how could he have gotten into your network?"

That seemed to deflate Izzy for a second, but Kari jumped in with a quick response.

"Well Joe, when Tai disappeared, three years ago, he didn't do a lot of the things he does now, people change and learn new things." Kari told both of the college students, who shrugged.

"That sounds plausible." Izzy told her, and then stifled his own yawn. "Man, what time is it?" Izzy asked as he looked at the clock on his computer. "It's eight a.m.?" Izzy exclaimed, "I've been up for nearly thirty hours…"

"Maybe we should let you get some rest. We can have another meeting with everyone to get all of this figured out." Joe said, standing up from his position on one of Izzy's chairs. He knew Izzy would probably collapse like Davis rather soon, despite the large amount of caffeine he had obviously consumed, and he knew some sleep would help Izzy think more clearly.

"Ok…" Izzy said sleepily, moving towards his bed, which T.K. had just pulled Davis off of.

The three digidestined got Davis down and into T.K.'s car, and then went their separate ways. Kari and T.K. were taking Davis back to the Kamiya's, while Joe was heading back to his parents apartment.

Joe had to finish packing, and the original reason he'd been at Izzy's was to see if he had anything he wanted taken back to their shared apartment while he was heading over there.

_Well so much for that…_ Joe thought to himself as he and Bukamon headed back towards his parents place.

Meanwhile Kari and T.K. arrived back at the Kamiya's apartment and managed to get Davis onto the sofa, and finally collapsed in a pair of chairs in the kitchen.

"Man, how can he weigh that much?" T.K. asked as leaned back in the chair.

"Just be glad that Gatomon grabbed his bag with DemiVeemon, I'm sure he weighs a ton." Kari said, also leaning back in her chair.

"I didn't grab Davis's bag." Gatomon said from where she was sitting next to the table.

"You didn't?" Kari asked, surprised.

"No, you didn't tell me too." Gatomon replied, and the two digidestined looked at each other.

"Oh no…" They said in unison.

"Poor Izzy, he's gonna kill us when he wakes up…" Kari said, closing her eyes, and putting a hand on her forehead. DemiVeemon was one big handful for anyone to handle at the best of times.

"Izzy?" T.K. said his head down on the table. "Think about what Tentomon's going to do to us!"

~later~

Several hours, and a car trip, later the three younger digidestined were back at Izzy's place, waiting for Izzy to fill them in on something that Gennai had told him. DemiVeemon had managed to not annoy Izzy or Tentomon, mostly because he had been sleeping under Izzy's bed, but he was very glad to see a reenergized Davis, along with Kari and T.K.

"So Izzy, what did Gennai tell you?" Davis asked leaning back, in one of Izzy's chairs instead of his bed this time.

"And why did you just get the three of us together?" Kari asked, knowing that they were going to be getting all of the digidestined together for yet another meeting the very next day.

"Well, it's not critical information, but Gennai sent me some info about Davis's Crest, and I figured you would want to know right away." Izzy replied, and he suddenly had Davis's undivided attention.

"What type of information?" Davis asked, leaning forward in his chair. DemiVeemon, who seemed to have learned his lesson about sitting near Davis earlier and was therefore on the ground next to Gatomon and Patamon, also looked over at Izzy, interested as well.

"Well, you've got a very special Crest there Davis." Izzy said, booting up a program on his computer. It showed an image of his Crest, along with images of the Crests of Light and Hope. "It had been sealed away inside the Digiegg of Miracles for a long time, restricting its true power."

"Its true power?" Davis asked, and Izzy nodded, and then pressed a button on his keyboard. The symbol representing Davis Crest let out a flash of light that covered both of the other Crests. The second the light touched them they let out their own flashes of light.

"It appears your Crest has duel properties." Izzy said, and Davis cocked his head to the side. "The way Gennai explained it to me the main property of your Crest, and its name, is Faith. Having Faith in your friends, and yourself, and really anyone, seems to cause your Crest to glow."

The three digidestined looked at each other as Izzy told them this, and then looked at the Crest in Davis's hand. It seemed almost too simple a task to get the Crest to glow. Kari and T.K. were both remembering how hard it had been to get many of the original digidestined's Crests to glow.

"That seems pretty simple…" T.K. said, vocalizing their thoughts, well, his and Kari's, Davis was still thinking about what Izzy had said.

"You would think, but it has to be a pretty strong Faith in them, not anything halfhearted. That's how Gennai explained it at least." Izzy replied, and the two younger digidestined nodded.

"What about the other property?" Davis asked, finally speaking.

"Oh right." Izzy said, playing the video on his screen again. "When the Sovereign's sealed away your Crest they changed the property of its Digiegg to Miracles, which the Crest seems to have kept. Anytime it is used, you can expect some sort of miracle to occur, such as Kari and T.K. having no problems using their Crests."

"That's….Amazing!" Kari exclaimed. She had been wondering exactly how Gatomon and Patamon had been able to digivolve so easily that night, and this seemed to be the answer.

"In addition, Magnamon isn't your standard digimon. He has the power of a Mega-Level digimon, but isn't one. He's outside the standard digivolution we're used to." Izzy added, looking down at DemiVeemon.

"Izzy?" T.K. asked, getting Izzy's attention. "How does Gennai know all of this?"

"I wondered the same thing T.K., and more. Why didn't he tell us about this earlier?" Izzy said, throwing his own question into the mix. "Unfortunately, Gennai still hasn't answered me with those answers. In fact, I haven't been able to contact any of our digiworld allies since Gennai's message came through. It's almost as if something detected the messages and then started blocking them"

The three younger digidestined looked at Izzy, concerned. They had a few of their allies spread around the digital world, all of whom sent periodic reports about their sectors, and let the digidestined know if there were any problems there.

"I'm checking to see if it's just my equipment, since there seems to be a lot of problems with inter-world communication right now, in addition to the people accessing our network here in the real world." Izzy told them. "But for now, you guys go enjoy the last few days of your break; we'll get everything sorted out and have another big digidestined meeting."

_Well hopefully that sated everyone's appetites for some information on Davis, and Magnamon. Or you guys really didn't care, in which case you really hated this chapter. Oh well, until next time!_

_**A little Preview:**_

_**Suddenly there was a crash, along with shouting coming from the hallway outside the apartment. Both of the Digidestined looked towards the door as the noises registered. "Well, Davis is here." T.K. said unnecessarily.**_

"_**What was that?" Gatomon asked, looking over to Tai's left side, where the voice had emanated. "Who do you think?" The voice replied back as Tai pulled the sleeve of his jacket back to reveal the large digivice like device on his wrist. The screen displayed an image that looked exactly like Agumon, and who was looking out at everyone in the room just like Agumon would.**_

_And review replies:_

_OmegaMan133: I'm glad you liked the action, it wasn't my favorite bit, but it was ok. and you should watch the others, or at least look stuff up online, it'll help figure things out._

_Edasama: Thanks a bunch! And I am, as fast as I can!_

_TaioraWarrior: Yea, she was supposed to be one at that moment. But she didn't always show her colors, so she'd probably have been a favorite if I had written the stuff before that! And yea, that is the whole point. Tai's running away in past chapters is a defensive mechanism on his part from this. You just wait until he starts to thaw out. It'll happen soonish, at least where friends are concerned, and something will happen with Sora that causes tai to be able to get over things a little faster. You'll see what that is in a few chapters._

_Supershooter: Thanks! And yea, It will, but probably not as long as you' d assume. And yes, that is the most important thing to him. A little single minded Davis is lol._

_Angelfish369: Yep it does. This scene was the first one I envisioned when I set up this story so I was glad to get it out there. Yea, it's good for them, and the next chapter will be even more of that, so be excited! I'll try and explain everything as best I can through Tai, but If you need to look up anything, I'd recommend the digimon wiki, it's a pretty good source, I'm actually putting the link bellow._

_For anyone interested here is the link to the digimon wiki, it should fill any gaps in your knowledge if you'd care to look at the different things:_ _.com/wiki/Digimon_Wiki _


	9. Problems Come to Light

_Ok, so I know this has taken forever to actually get posted…and I'm not gonna make excuses, so just enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: Santa didn't bring me digimon for Christmas =(_

**Act 2 Calm before the Storm**

**Chapter 8 Problems Come to Light**

Davis Motomiya jogged up the last part of the staircase in the building that T.K. Takashi lived in, on his way up to his best friend's apartment. Most people would have expected the young man to be exhausted after the last couple of days events, being attacked two separate times, staying up most of the night before, and then having Izzy explain things, easily the most tiring thing for Davis, for most of the morning. All together most people would be barely able to walk along a flat hallway, let alone bound up stairs like Davis was, but then Davis wasn't most people.

There wasn't really anything special about Davis, he just seemed to possess this limitless amount of energy, and could always be cheerful and energetic when everyone else was dead tired.

"Go faster Davis!" DemiVeemon squealed from Davis's shoulder as Davis reached the top of the stairs. DemiVeemon was pretty much the same as Davis, at least where the energy was concerned, and was in the mood for a faster ride.

Davis just laughed at his partner as he arrived on the landing that he had been going to. Even for Davis he seemed to be in a good mood, and if you knew why he was going to his best friend's apartment on this afternoon, you'd probably be excited as well. Davis himself was actually really caught up in his own excitement, and as much as he had grown up and matured in the last few years, when he got excited he paid less attention to his surroundings.

He took a step towards the Takashi's door, which happened to be the first one by the staircase, and fell flat on his face, having missed the last stair in his excitement to get all of the way up to the top. He let out a shout as he face planted on the landing, and poor DemiVeemon went flying as well, not prepared for Davis's sudden fall, and let out his own shout. In fact the two of them created quite a racket in the hallway.

Meanwhile inside the nearly empty Takashi apartment things were just starting to get heated up between T.K. and Kari. The two were sitting in the love seat, both of them completely occupied with the other.

Mrs. Takashi had a girls night out hastily organized, by her son as a quick way to get her out of the apartment for the meeting that T.K. and Kari both hoped would still be occurring that night, so it appeared that the two were quite alone in the apartment. That led to their current position, and the activity that they were participating in. It was one of their favorite pass times, especially on the (few) occasions where Davis wasn't with them.

T.K. felt himself tingle with anticipation as Kari leaned forward towards him, making her move. She got closer and closer and T.K. felt his anticipation build as he looked right into her eyes. She was only a few inches away from him, reaching out an arm…to the checker board that was set up next to the love seat. She picked up one of her pieces and proceeded to pass it over two of T.K.'s pieces, and landing on T.K.'s side of the board, earning her a king.

T.K. sighed as Kari took her third King of the game. She was much better than him at checkers, despite the number of times the two of them had played. She just smiled at him innocently as she placed one of her (few) captured pieces on top of the other, signifying it being kinged.

"Your turn." She said, leaning back, still smiling.

"Oh thanks." T.K. replied, shaking his head as he smiled as well. Despite the fact that he lost to Kari every time he played her he still enjoyed the time with her. The two of them got little enough alone time that T.K. treasured every second of it.

Suddenly there was a crash, along with shouting coming from the hallway outside the apartment. Both of the Digidestined looked towards the door as the noises registered.

"Well, Davis is here." T.K. said unnecessarily, but it still caused a giggle to escape Kari's lips. T.K. smiled at that. In general anything that made Kari happy usually made him happy. The couple got up from their cozy position, going to the door. Opening said door revealed a sprawled out Davis Motomiya , laying face first on the floor, and DemiVeemon walking around looking rather dazed. The wall Davis was more or less aimed at seemed to have a rather DemiVeemon sized dent in it, showing what had happened to the little blue digimon.

"Yep, can't go anywhere without making a scene." T.K. said with a laugh looking at his best friend, who just let out a small groan. Gatomon and Patamon, who had been in T.K.'s room watching some TV while their partners played checkers, had come to the door to see what the commotion was went to help the struggling DemiVeemon as T.K. helped Davis off of the floor.

"So T.K., when did your apartment get an extra stair?" Davis asked while he was brought inside.

"About six years ago Davis." T.K. replied as he helped his friend into one of the chairs in the kitchen. Davis had taken a rather good fall, and this time it looked like he was a little more dazed than normal.

"Well looks like your head's getting a little less thick Davis." Kari said with a laugh. Teasing between the three friends was a norm, and Davis's amazing ability to hit his head without becoming dazed had been a source of constant amusement for Kari and T.K.

"No way!" Davis said, standing up quickly, and then sitting back in his chair with a groan even faster.

"Calm down Davis." Kari said with concern for her friend. "I don't really think you could be less thick! I was joking!" Davis spared her a glance as T.K. broke out into laughter, returning with an ice pack for Davis face. Davis mumbled something as he placed the ice pack on his face.

Meanwhile Gatomon and Patamon had brought DemiVeemon into the kitchen to get him some food, the best remedy for the small digimon. Gatomon and Patamon had long had to act the older mon to DemiVeemon, and were used to him being dazed like this, so they knew exactly what to do.

"How do you still have this much trouble with stairs?" A voice asked from behind the three digidestined.

Kari and T.K., along with Gatomon, spun around to face where the voice had come from while Patamon, who had been standing next to Gatomon, jumped into the air. The three were quite surprised to see Tai leaning on the wall in the back of the kitchen, a fairly bemused look on his face at the reaction that he had incited from the two digidestined and their digimon.

"Tai!" All three of them yelled, causing Davis, who still had the ice pack covering his face, to look around in confusion.

"Tai's here? When'd he get here? I didn't hear the doorbell!" He said quickly looking around with the ice pack on his face still.

Tai just smiled a much smaller smile than the one that Kari and T.K. were used to seeing, but a smile none the less. Kari practically teleported over to her older brother, quickly taking him into a bear hug.

"How'd you get in here?" T.K. asked as he sat back in his seat. With all of the attacks that had happened over the last couple of days he was a lot more jumpy than usual, not to mention the fact that the person leaning against his wall had told them to be on their guard for any attacks.

"You would be amazed at the places I've gotten into over the last couple of years. Getting into your apartment wasn't that hard. Especially when you leave an extra key under the flower pot outside the door." Tai replied getting free of his sisters bear hug, and then depositing said key on the table. "The hardest part was actually staying hidden."

"How long have you been here?" T.K. asked his girlfriend's older brother as Kari resumed her seat next to him at the table. Davis had taken the ice pack off of his face finally, and seen Tai, but remained in his seat, not wanting to see if he could stand yet.

"A few hours." Tai replied. T.K. gulped a bit, remembering how overprotective Tai was of his little sister, and what the two of them had been doing before the checkers game.

"Why didn't you come out of hiding when T.K.'s mom left?" Kari asked her older brother, wondering exactly why he had waited until Davis had shown up to appear.

_Is there some reason he wouldn't want to see me?_ Kari thought to herself concerned.

"Well, he fell asleep!" A voice said, sounding like it was right next to Tai and also sounding exactly like Agumon.

"What was that?" Gatomon asked, looking over to Tai's left side, where the voice had emanated.

"Who do you think?" The voice replied back as Tai pulled the sleeve of his jacket back to reveal the large digivice like device on his wrist. The screen displayed an image that looked exactly like Agumon, and who was looking out at everyone in the room just like Agumon would.

"Agumon?" Gatomon asked, and the yellow dinosaur nodded with a grin, just before Tai pressed one of the buttons on the device and it let out a cloud of data that turned into his partner.

"Hi!" Agumon exclaimed cheerfully as he finished materializing. Gatomon looked back and forth between Tai's digivice and Agumon several times, not really sure what has going on in the least.

"So you were asleep the whole time?" T.K. asked, bring the conversation back to where Agumon had entered it. Agumon nodded while Tai just shrugged.

"You try being completely quiet while hiding in an apartment and not falling asleep." Tai said, finally pulling out a chair and sitting down with his back to a wall.

T.K. nodded, while letting out an internal sigh of relief, he hadn't seen or heard anything.

Now everyone was sitting at the table, or in the case of the digimon standing on it or their partners, and everyone looked at each other. No one seemed to know where to start. Finally Tai was the first to break the silence.

"T.K., Davis, I need to apologize to you two." Tai said, rather nervously, as if he was afraid of something.

"Huh?" Davis said, looking at Tai in confusion.

"What for?" T.K. asked also confused.

"Yesterday, at that square, I didn't treat you two how I should have." Tai said, just as nervously as before. This wasn't the Tai that the three friends were used to seeing. If he felt that he had done something wrong he wouldn't hesitate to say so, and would have done so with confidence not with a nervous voice, and a look of almost fear on his face. Three years ago that never would have happened.

"Tai you don't have to worry about that…" Davis started to say, but Tai cut him off.

"I do. I let something that happened to me in the past color how I acted to the two of you." He said, seeming to gain more confidence as he spoke. "You two didn't deserve that."

T.K. looked like he wanted to tell Tai the same thing Davis had, but just nodded instead.

"Well, we forgive you Tai, no problem." Davis said, and T.K nodded once more.

Tai gave the two of them the same smile from earlier. "Thanks guys." He said to them, and they both gave him a smile back.

Agumon gave Tai a smile that none of the humans could see.

_Tai finally took some of my advice. He's finally on the way to being healed…_ The digimon thought to himself happily.

"So what happened after I, uh, left." Tai asked, looking at the three Digidestined and their partners. "What happened with that digimon that attacked?"

"Parallelmon." Davis said quietly. "Izzy figured out that's what it was called." Kari seemed to scoot closer to Tai as Davis spoke. "We thought that it killed you."

"I'd heard that." Tai said quietly, and then motioned for Davis to continue.

"Sora and Phonixmon managed to destroy it, but it left the city in shambles." Davis said, pulling all the details from that day out. Besides the two who had actually been there during the attack, Davis knew what had happened better than anyone. Thankfully having Tai sit right in front of him made retelling the events of that day much easier than the other times he had to do it.

"Phonixmon?" Tai asked.

T.K. answered this one. "Yea, Sora got Biyomon to warp digivolve to Mega."

Tai nodded once more, "That's good. Another mega level digimon will be useful."

Kari looked like she wanted to say something, but Davis, who wasn't paying attention to her, continued before she could get it in.

"Yea, well after that we had a large rebuilding stage here in the city. Nearly everyone had lost someone, over 2000 people were killed." Davis said quietly, the conversation having a rather hushed tone to it now.

"Shit." Tai said under his breath, and the others nodded.

"Quite a few families had enough with all of the attacks and decided to leave Odaiba. Only recently has Odaiba started to be repopulated." Davis said, listing off facts that had long ago burned themselves into his memory. He seemed to be less goofy and less Davis like as he got deeper into this conversation, just as the pain from his fall seemed to have disappeared.

"The Inoue's left, as did the Hida's and the Kido's. Mrs. Takenouchi moved in with her husband in Kyoto." Davis said, listing the Digidestined families that had left the Odaiba district. "We managed to keep in contact with all of them luckily, but needless to say the team got pretty spread out until about 6 months ago when they moved back, well except Mrs. Takenouchi."

"They all left?" Tai asked, not really able to believe it. All those digimon attacks that had happened, especially the ones Myotismon had done, had never driven people out of Odaiba before.

"Yea. Having that many people actually die really changed things for everyone." Davis said. "Since then we've kept a closer eye on things, and things have been peaceful, at least until yesterday."

"I wouldn't expect them to go back to being peaceful for a while." Tai said to Davis, and the three humans and their partners leaned back as Tai started to tell some of his tale.

"Now I'm not going to go into everything, that would take too long, but I'll tell you guys the basics, and answer some questions for you." Tai said, and Davis jumped at that.

"What was that thing you did with the data and your digivice?" He asked.

"And how was Agumon in your digivice?" Gatomon jumped in, curious about the yellow dinosaur that used to live with her.

"And where did you get that thing in the first place?" T.K. added, not being able to stop himself from asking a question as well.

"And why did Agumon turn into a different Greymon?" Patamon threw in.

Tai let out a short laugh, and held up his hand. "One at a time guys or I'll never actually answer a question."

Davis and T.K. grinned sheepishly while Gatomon blushed a little bit, and Tai couldn't help but laugh again. He was getting comfortable with these three again very easily. Far easier than he would have thought possible, at least after he had apologized to Davis and T.K. The voice had told him not to, but he had ignored it, and things had gotten easier from there.

"Ok, to start things off, this is my old digivice, it's just had some modifications." Tai said, pulling his digivice off of his wrist and placing it on the table. To the three Digidestined present it didn't look a thing like the digivices they, or the older kids, well adults now, carried. It had a fairly large screen, with something that looked like a scanner directly above it and multiple buttons below the screen. On both sides of it were what looked like a card slider, where they had seen Tai slide is cards.

"Tai, I hate to say it, but that doesn't look a thing like your old digivice." Davis said rather obviously.

"Well, I did say it had been modified didn't I?" Tai replied. "When I was first transported to a different dimension my digivice was damaged badly enough that I couldn't use it."

"How did that happen?" T.K. asked Tai.

"A digimon attacked, and disabled it almost as soon as we landed. If help hadn't shown up Agumon and I would have been wiped out." Tai replied, and then pressed a button on his digivice. The holographic screen that had appeared before powered up again, this time showing a picture. It reminded Kari of the one they had taken after defeating the Dark Masters, only this one held people she didn't know, with the exception of her brother and Agumon.

He was standing between two other boys about his age. One was wearing a pair of yellow goggles around his head, had light brown hair and crimson eyes. He was wearing a blue hoodie and cargo pants. Immediately in front of him was a red dinosaur like digimon, a little taller than Agumon. Next to him was a red hair girl with violet eyes wearing a white t-shirt with a heart in the middle of it and blue jeans. Standing just behind her was a tall yellow fox like digimon that was standing with its arms crossed. Next to her was a pair of guys, one with spikey brown hair sitting on a Guardromon's shoulder and the other with more tame black hair was standing with a small pink digimon with angel wings and a heart on its chest.

On Tai's other side was a somewhat taller boy with blue hair, and dark eyes. He was wearing a vest over his t-shirt, and long pants that matched his shirt. Riding his shoulder was a digimon the three digidestined recognized as Terriermon. On the other side of him was a younger girl with red hair and matching eyes. She was dressed in a pink shirt and red pants. Riding her shoulder was a brown and purple version of Terriermon. Next to that girl was a boy the age of all the others except her. He had wavy brown hair, and brown eyes. He was wearing a red sweater and cargo pants. Hunched over behind him was a large, and angry looking, dragon with red wings. Next to him was a little imp like digimon with a red bandanna around its neck.

"These are the Tamers. Sorta like the Digidestined, only they weren't chosen for any specific mission in the digital world." Tai said, looking down at the picture fondly. "They saved me, and with some help from their organization helped me partially repair my digivice. I couldn't digivolve Agumon anymore, but they modified my digivice so I could use it to Digi-modify Agumon."

Tai pressed another button on his digivice and the picture disappeared. "I stayed with them for about half a year before I found a dimensional rift to travel through. Unfortunately it wasn't one back here. I ended up in another dimension, and once again I found some helpful friends."

Tai pressed another button, and another picture appeared. There were less people in this one. Tai was standing next to a rather tall young man about his age, who had long brown hair, pulled into a ponytail, and dark eyes. He was wearing some sort of uniform with a red undershirt. Standing just in front of him, with an arm around Tai's Agumon was another Agumon. On the other side of him was a young woman with short red hair and matching eyes. She was wearing the same uniform, except instead of the blue main color of all of the others, hers was purple. Hovering above her was a pink and green bulb like digimon. On the other side of Tai was a blond haired, blue eyed young man who could have been related to T.K. He was wearing a similar uniform to the others, except he kept his uniform zipped up, hiding his undershirt. In front of him was a blue wolf-like digimon with boxing gloves. Next to him was a younger purple haired and eyed boy, wearing the same uniform, only with an undershirt that matched his hair and eyes. Standing next to him was a brown and purple digimon that looked like some sort of owl.

"This is the DATS team. They were a digimon police force of sorts." Tai said before closing the picture once more. "They modified my digivice to accept a D.N.A. Charge."

"A what?" Kari asked.

"A D.N.A. Charge, it stands for…" Tai just tracked off as he said that, and then did something he hadn't done in a long time, rubbed the back of his head, the old "I actually don't know what I'm talking about" queue of his. "I actually don't know."

Everyone let out a sigh as he said that, though the three humans couldn't help but smile. That sounded exactly like the Tai they knew.

"But, it's how I digivolve Agumon now. It has something to do with our ability to help digimon digivolve. In theory, all of you should be able to do the same thing to digivolve your digimon." Tai said, sounding much smarter than he usually did.

"So is this alternate form of digivolving the reason Agumon doesn't turn into plain old Greymon anymore?" Gatomon asked from Kari's lap.

"Partially. Agumon's digivoluton slate was wiped clean when my digivice was modified, and each dimension's Agumon digivolve into different evolutionary lines. So whenever Agumon in this dimension digivolve they all become GeoGreymon, and all the ones in our dimension become regular Greymon. Because Agumon digivolved into his champion level in the DATS dimension his champion form is now GeoGreymon." Tai explained to the room.

"So does that mean he doesn't turn into MetalGreymon and WarGreymon anymore?" Gatomon asked, catching one the fastest.

"Right." Agumon answered for Tai. "I have a completely different digivoluton line now, and a rather unique one too."

"Unique?" Davis asked.

"Yea, he gained his Ultimate and Mega levels in the third dimension we visited." Tai said, though as he said mega and third dimension his voice got quieter. "So they are different from the full evolutionary lines in either dimension."

"You have a picture for this third dimension Tai?" Davis asked, wanting to see some of the other people that Tai had seen, and immediately regretted it from the look that he got from Tai.

"No, I got rid of all of them." Tai replied, his voice much colder than it had been earlier, and then stood up. "I need a bit of air." He walked out towards the balcony that had the Takashi apartment had, leaving the room.

"Was it something I said?" Davis asked, looking at the door that Tai had exited through.

"Yes Davis, but it's not your fault." Agumon replied, also looking after Tai.

"What happened in that third dimension Agumon?" Kari asked her brothers partner.

"We found a group of humans with digimon partners, much like the other two. We befriended them, and helped them fight a war against this group of really evil digimon." Agumon said after a seconds pause. "Tai grew especially close to this group. We were there for nearly a year when we discovered that they had been agents of the enemy we had been fighting. They betrayed us after using Tai to assemble all of the warrior digimon in that dimension for a slaughter."

"It was all my fault." A voice said, and everyone looked to see Tai standing at the door. "I should have seen it coming, and prevented it."

"Tai…" Agumon started to say, but he cut him off.

"No Agumon, it was my fault." Tai said, which had the opposite effect on the digimon from quieting him.

"NO TAI IT WASN'T!" Agumon shouted. He had finally had enough of his partners self-blame and hatred for what had happened a year ago, and was going to give him a piece of is mind. "In what way was it your fault Tai? Is it because you fell for their deception? Because so did I! Was it because they made you feel like you were somewhere you belonged for the first time in a long time? Because honestly I felt the same way." Agumon stopped for a deep breath, while Tai had taken a step back. The three digidestined and their digimon were doing their best to melt into their chairs and not be noticed in this confrontation.

"Tai, they used us, and there was nothing we could have done short of being psychic to prevent that, so stop blaming yourself for their betrayal." Agumon finished, his voice getting more quite as he finished. Tai looked at him, and Agumon stared right back.

"Just try Tai. For me." Agumon pleaded with his partner. There was a pause, and then Tai slowly nodded. "Thank you."

Tai gave Agumon a weak smile, just before his digivice beeped on the table. Tai immediately crossed to the table, where the three digidestined where still sitting and his digivice was still laying.

He pulled it onto his hand, and activated it once again. A map of Japan appeared, showing 11 flashing dots.

"What's that Tai?" Davis asked, breaking the awkward silence that had descended from Agumon's outburst.

"It's how I'm keeping tabs on all of you guys." Tai replied. "The digimon that attacked you guys are part of the organization I was fighting in the third dimension I visited. Their leaders are the Seven Great Demon Lords, seven of the most powerful and evilest digimon ever created. They've steadily been conquering different dimensions, and they've finally found a way to attack this one."

"What do you mean finally?" T.K. asked the obvious question.

"This dimension's digital world was the first one ever created. All the others sprang forth from this one, as did the Demon Lords. They were cast out by the four Digimon Sovereign's, who you know as the Harmonious Ones, and banished to another dimension. Ten safe guards were then built to keep all invaders from other dimensions out." Tai informed the digidestined. "That's why it took me three years to get back here, well that and the Demon Lords."

"So you've been fighting these Demon Lord guys for three years?" Davis asked.

"Just about." Tai replied. "Anyways, they found a way to get through the Sovereign's barrier, and are preparing an attack. The demons that have attacked are most likely part of the advance scouting group."

"Why are they after us though?" Kari asked her brother.

"And why are you keeping tabs on us?" Gatomon added.

"It's the Demon Lord's strategy. Take out the dimensions Digidestined or their equivalent, and the dimension will be easier to conquer." Tai replied. "And to protect all of you. I'm tracking your digivices to make sure none of you get into trouble."

"Yea, remember Izzy was talking about the people accessing his network, we thought Tai was one of them." Davis threw into the conversation.

"That's right, I accessed Izzy's network for ease of finding all of yo…wait, did you say there was more than one person accessing the network?" Tai asked, suddenly sitting straight up in his chair, more serious than he had been.

"Yea, Izzy said that there were at least two people who were accessing his network…" Davis said, drifting off as Tai stood up.

"Crap." He said, heading for the door. "I've got to go. This could be the advance party, and they could be using it against all of us." He paused, and then pulled a small device out of his pocket which he gave to Kari.

"I know this wasn't that great of a reunion little sis, I'll try and make it up when I can. As for that, you can use this to get in contact with me." He gave Kari the little device, and then ran out the door, Agumon a few feet behind him.

_And so begins the healing of Tai…not much from me down here. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter…let me know what you though!_

_Review Replies:_

_TaioraWarrior: lol yea, Izzy's a great character to write since you can use him to figure things out. And that's probably because it's the first time i've really written Izzy, ever. Lol I'm glad you enjoyed the demiveemon parts, because I really enjoyed them too lol. Exactly, Tai's gotten a lot smarter since he left, at least when it comes to protecting people. And the Crest of Miracles is mentioned as a possibility to go with the digiegg of miracles. They never actually talk about it, but the digimon wiki mentions the possibility of it exciting, so I took that possibility and ran with it lol. Thanks! And yes I could lol very nice!_

_edasama :Thanks! And I'm glad that it did!_

_OmegaMan133 : Thanks! And yea, this story I'm trying to do more in other people's perspective, so expect more Joe and Izzy, and maybe even some TK, Mimi, and Ken…_

_my daydream world : Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it! _

_Supershooter: Thanks! And I thought so as well. I wanted you guys to be a little less confused now lol_

_DephsXylex: lol indeed it does, quite nicely actually. And thanks. I know it wasn't action filled, but it was necessary. _

_Agubiyofan: thanks! And no. Im not going to say their isn't, but I'm not going to specifically write it. I'm not a huge fan of digimon relationships, but I'll leave it open, so you can fill the blanks in your imagination however you want._


	10. College Boys

_And I'm back! Yay updates! Anyone? =( ok, on with the story now…_

_Disclaimer: (insert witty disclaimer like remark) _

**Chapter 9 College Boys**

~Digital World~

Beelzemon reclined in the chair that was not quite a throne in the middle of his camp, slowly massaging his forehead.

_Everyone one of these bumbling idiots has failed miserably in following my orders._ The Demon Lord thought to himself as he sat there. _Kamiya has managed to stop every one of them almost as an afterthought…maybe it's time to bring out the big guns…_ Beelzemon looked up with a grim smile on his face.

He stood up, causing a group of Rookie-Level and Champion-Level scouts and attendants to rush over to him.

"Bring all of our Mega-Levels out." Beelzemon ordered. He was done playing games here. Lucemon may want him to get Kamiya, but Beelzemon knew the real threats were the digidestined in this dimension. He would eliminate them, and if Kamiya was dumb enough to try and save them he would die as well.

He stood and strode over to the holographic map that showed a bird's eye view of Tokyo. Multiple dots were burning a dull red, signifying the location of the digidestined.

_Such fools to leave a network like this so open to being accessed…_ Beelzemon thought as the pair of Datamon he'd brought along for this purpose continued to manipulate the access to the digidestined network.

His eyes lingered on the pair all by themselves on the far edge of Tokyo from all the others…

~Tokyo, Japan~

"Come on Joe, I'm sure things weren't that bad for you on the test." Izzy Izumi told his roommate as the two of them walked back towards their apartment from the restaurant they'd just had lunch at.

"No Izzy I'm pretty sure I failed that test…" Joe said, continuing his usual self beating up after a big test. This one he had been studying for the entire winter break and Izzy knew there was no way he failed the test.

"Joe, did you not know how to answer any of the questions?" Izzy asked, and Joe shook his head. "Were there any surprises you hadn't studied at least twenty times?" Another head shake. "Then why do you think you failed?"

"I..I…I don't really know." Joe said, signifying defeat on his part.

Izzy just nodded, taking silent satisfaction on his victory. Joe was a far cry from the nervous and over cautious person Izzy had meet on his first trip to the digital world, but from time to time would still worry over something like a test he was beyond prepared for.

"Good job Izzy, Joe wouldn't stop talking about how badly he failed that test." Bukamon chimed in from where he was hovering over Joe's shoulder. Motimon, unfortunately, was forced to ride in Izzy's backpack since he couldn't fly or keep up with the humans.

"How about you Izzy, how did your Comp Sci test go?" Joe asked, ignoring his partners comment. Despite the fact that they had just had lunch together they really hadn't spent any time talking about their courses first set of test barely a week after returning from break.

"It wasn't bad. I think I did fine." Izzy replied. The course was the first time he had actually not been able to breeze through a computer science course. It was one of the most advanced courses offered, and it really showed in the work Izzy actually had to do.

"Wow, is Izzy Izumi not confident about one of his comp sci classes?" Joe asked with a smile. Izzy just shook his head as the two college students continued their trek home. Both of them were top notch students, but for very different reasons. Joe was probably the hardest working person that Izzy knew, while Izzy was just plain smart. This isn't calling Joe stupid, but Izzy was in a class all by himself when it came to school work. He'd been taking courses designed for students with at least four years of college experience, and not even having to study extra to succeed in his course.

"This one is different." Izzy said in defense of his usual habits. "I think the teachers are looking for us to fail the course!"

Joe just laughed at Izzy's excuse. "That's part of what that course is about Izzy." Joe replied. He had a year more experience at the college over his roommate, not to mention information from his brother's time at this college. "It's the most difficult course offered here, but it's not the last one offered. It's designed to weed out those that can't actually make the cut."

"That's…that's…" Izzy seemed at a loss for words for once, and Joe laughed once more. He liked when he could turn these conversations around on Izzy that quickly, which wasn't often.

"Oh you know what I mean." Izzy finally settled on as they neared Ueno Park, a spacious park to the west of Tokyo University and just north of where they lived. They usually stopped and spent the time to walk through the park, partially to let Bukamon and Motimon get some air and partially since it was the fastest way back to their apartment.

The two friends entered the park, and quickly found their usual bench, somewhat away from the main traffic in the park. It was near one of the several temples scattered around the park, and this particular one was less traveled to, both by the inhabitants of Tokyo and the many tourists that inhabited the area.

Bukamon went straight for the small pond next to the temple while Izzy pulled Motimon out of his backpack and let him roam about. The two friends sat down on the bench and watched as their digimon released a good amount of their pent up energy.

"You ever feel like parents sitting here like this?" Izzy asked after a few minutes.

"What?" Joe asked, sitting up from where he had been drifting off, the late hours studying had worn him out and the park was a quiet and peaceful place.

"With Bukamon, do you ever sorta feel like he's a child and you're his parent?" Izzy repeated, and Joe opened his mouth to reply, only to stop as he thought about it.

"You know, with Bukamon, I sometimes do, now that I think about it." Joe replied as the digimon he was talking about splashed Motimon, who had strayed too close to the water. "Why are you asking this?"

"I was just thinking, you know you always see parents taking their kids to the park and sitting back while they play around…" Izzy said, drifting off and Joe let out a laugh.

"Yea, I guess this does feel a little like that must." Joe replied watching Motimon attempt to get revenge on his aquatic friend, only to end up falling into the water that Bukamon was swimming in.

Izzy nodded as Motimon attempted to get himself out of the pond while Bukamon tried not to drown in his laughter.

They sat in silence once more, just letting their digimon run around, Bukamon attempting to stay away from the angry Motimon.

"So why do you think Tai still hasn't talked to any of us yet?" Izzy asked once more, and Joe leaned back on the bench.

"I don't really know Izzy. The only thing I can think of is what Matt said back at the meeting. Something must have happened that prevents him from talking to us." Joe replied after a few seconds.

"I guess." Izzy responded. "What do you think it could have been?"

"I don't really want to know." Joe said almost immediately. He'd obviously been thinking about it on his own a bit. "I mean, this is Tai we're talking about. What could make him of all people act like this?"

Izzy just looked thoughtful at Joe's comment, at least for a second, that's when the first explosion happened.

The noise hit the two digidestined half a second before the displaced air from the explosion knocked both of them off of the bench and onto the ground. They were rolling away from the source before either of them realized what the loud noise was.

"Joe!" Bukamon shouted as Motimon called out to Izzy.

"Izzy!" Both digimon jumped towards their partners, just as their digivices let out a blinding flash of light.

"Bukamon digivolve to! Gomamon!" Bukamon digivolved into his rookie form as the light faded from him. He now looked like a rather small white seal with orange hair.

"Motimon digivolve to! Tentomon!" Motimon also emerged from the light in his rookie form, which looked like a rather large, winged, red bug.

"Joe, you ok?" Gomamon asked as he jumped over to him.

"Yea Gomamon, I just got knocked over!" Joe shouted, his ears still ringing from the loud noise, and the change in air pressure.

"IZZY!" Tentomon called, as Izzy was standing up.

"I'm fine Tentomon." Izzy replied, stopping his partner from worrying too much. "But what was that?"

Almost as if to answer Izzy's question another explosion ripped through the park, this time proceeded by a shout.

"Bone Duster!" A rather cold voice shouted, just before a huge fireball shot through the park, causing yet another massive explosion.

"I'd say a digimon!" Tentomon exclaimed in response to Izzy's question, and almost as if on cue a creature that could only be a digimon jumped into view. It seemed to be looking around for something as it pointed its left arm, which seemed to have a large cannon of sorts on it, towards one of the nearby temples.

"Bone Duster!" It shouted in the same calm, cold voice as before, just as a pillar of flame shot out from the cannon. The force of the displaced air alone was enough to throw Izzy, Tentomon, Joe, and Gomamon to the ground once more and throw a ton of dirt on top of them, even though the cannon wasn't aimed anywhere near them.

Izzy hazarded a look up at the digimon, and got his first good look at him, and almost immediately wanted to put his head back down. The digimon's entire body was covered in gold and silver armor, whose design was rather simple, if grotesque. Its main theme seemed to be skulls, with its kneecaps and the center of its chest having them to cover them. Its head was also a skull, bare of any skin or hair. Its left arm was a blade, in contrast to the cannon on its left arm.

Izzy watched as the two black sockets that had to be its eyes surveyed the destruction it had caused.

"Come out, come out wherever you are digidestined!" It called in its cold voice, looking almost directly away from the cowering digidestined.

Izzy and Joe tried their best not to be seen as the digimon kept looking around, but it was all for nothing. The digimon sent another blast in the direction it had shouted and then turned in the opposite direction, picking out the two digidestined almost immediately.

"There you are." The digimon said, and if its face hadn't been frozen as a skull Izzy was sure it would have smiled. "Time to take you out." He aimed his cannon down towards them, prompting them to jump up and run.

Tentomon and Gomamon on the other hand stayed right where they were, and both Izzy and Joe's digivices glowed with a bright light.

"Tentomon digivolve to!" Tentomon was covered in the light emitted from Izzy's digivice, and emerged from the light quite different. He was larger, bigger than quite a few houses, and was now blue. He had four wings springing from his back, and another pair of arms below his first set. His head was covered in a gray armored mask, with a large horn sprouting from it. "Kabuterimon!"

"Gomamon digivolve to!" Gomamon also digivolved into a larger form, almost the same size as Kabuterimon, but he was much more massive as he wasn't designed for flight. His entire body was covered in heavy white fur and a large horn sprouted from his forehead. "Ikkakumon!"

The two Champion-Level digimon stood between their partners and the attacking digimon.

"Electro-Shocker!" Kabuterimon charged up his electrical attack in his arms before releasing the blue blast of energy.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon launched his attack at the same moment, firing several torpedoes from the horn on his forehead, which arched into the sky before slamming into the digimon at the same moment as Kabuterimon's Electro-Shocker.

Both attacks caused explosions as they hit the digimon, showcasing the two Champion-Level digimon's accuracy and covering the digimon with smoke from the explosions.

"Alright!" Joe called out as the digimon was hit by the attacks. Izzy on the other hand wasn't as confident, and unfortunately was proven to be the one who was right.

"Grim Slasher!" The digimon called out even before the smoke cleared enough to allow visibility. Kabuterimon was sent hurling away from the sight of the battle as the digimon appeared where Kabuterimon had been a second before, following through with the stroke of its blade.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon called out again as he fired several more torpedoes at the digimon, who this time jumped out of the way, allowing the torpedoes to hit the ground where he was standing a few seconds before.

"Grim Slasher!" The digimon called once more, this time sending Ikkakumon flying, right into the temple that was in the secluded clearing they were in.

Joe looked back and forth between where his and Izzy's digimon had crashed into different parts of the clearing just before the digimon started spinning rapidly.

"Burning Cyclone!" it shouted just as fire poured out of its cannon surrounding it. It spun faster and faster as first broken pieces of wood from the destroyed temple flew towards it, followed by other heavier pieces of scrap. Izzy and Joe dove and managed to grab ahold of the bench they were sitting on minutes before, preventing them from getting sucked up as well.

Kabuterimon and Ikkakumon unfortunately weren't as lucky. Both were sucked up, and spun into the now massive fire cyclone, shouting the whole way. The two went around to many times for either Izzy or Joe to keep count before the cyclone suddenly cut out. Tentomon and Gomamon were thrown to the ground in front of the two humans as the digimon stopped its spin, both of them bruised up from the attack.

Izzy had his D-Terminal open as the digimon took a step towards them, and pulled up the information on the digimon.

"Reapermon, a cyborg digimon created from the data of a bounty hunter website. He hunts down the targets of whoever has the highest bid on the contract for his services." Izzy said, reading the information on the digimon aloud. "He attacks with either his Judgment Sickle or the cannon on his left arm." Izzy paused here for a second and took a breath, "He's a Mega-Level digimon."

~Earlier that day~

T.K. Takeru opened the door to his car, letting Patamon fly right out of the back seat, followed by DemiVeemon. Unfortunately getting Davis out of the car would be a much more difficult task.

As if to emphasize this thought Davis let out a snore at this moment, well, a rather louder than normal one since he had been snoring consistently since T.K. had picked him up.

"Davis wake up." T.K. said to Davis's sleeping form, shaking him. "Come on Davis we need to go up to the apartment."

Davis simply let out another loud snore and turned over in his sleep, ignoring T.K. with well-practiced ease.

"Davis, don't make me take extreme measures…" T.K. threatened Davis sleeping form, gaining another snore from his sleeping friend. "Ok Davis, you asked for it."

T.K. walked around to the back of the car, and pulled a water bottle, kept in his trunk just for times like these, out and walked back to the front seat. Patamon let out a laugh as he saw the bottle, while DemiVeemon went for cover, the bottle had been used to wake him up as much as Davis so he didn't like it very much.

T.K. opened up the bottle, took a last look at Davis, and dumped the entire bottle on Davis's face, causing him to jump up.

"Agah!" Davis shouted as Patamon laughed even harder, and T.K. joined in as well.

"You should learn to wake up some times Davis." T.K. said through his laughter as Davis shook his head to get rid of some of the water.

"Whatever T.K., I was having a good nap!" Davis responded, with his usual response when T.K. chided him and his sleeping habits. Davis wasn't used to being up this early at all, last week being the except with the meeting at Izzy's apartment, and the few times T.K. or Kari could manage to drag him out of his apartment, that process usually involved an entire _**bucket**_ of water rather than a simple water bottle, he would go back to sleep at the first opportunity. Like the car ride over to the Kamiya's apartment.

"Davis it's always a good nap with you…" T.K. replied, earning him a glare from his friend. "Well, are you coming or not?"

Davis let out one more groan, then got out of the car, still dripping wet.

"Yea, yea, I'm coming." Davis said as he did this. DemiVeemon jumped out from where he had been hiding under the car, running right to Davis who picked the little digimon up and deposited him right on top of his head.

Patamon landed on his customary spot, also atop his partners head, and the four headed towards the entrance to the apartment building. A few minutes later they were standing outside the door to the Kamiya's apartment, waiting for someone to answer their knock.

The wait wasn't a long one, but the person who answered the door was a surprise.

"Since when have you answered the door Gatomon?" Davis asked as he and T.K. entered the apartment.

"Since Kari asked me to." The cat like digimon responded as the two boys and their digimon entered the apartment.

"She told you that you couldn't have some of Miko's cat nip if you didn't answer the door, didn't she?" Davis asked with a grin, which earned him the evil cat eye from Gatomon.

"I'd say that's a yes Davis!" DemiVeemon exclaimed, as he also caught the evil cat eye. DemiVeemon ducked down below Davis's head as he got the look, doing his best to hide.

"Did you really have to bring those two along this early in the morning?" Gatomon asked exasperatedly. She was the only one in the digidestined group who could give Davis and DemiVeemon a run for their money with the love of sleep, and was also not a morning mon.

"If it makes you feel any better I had to use the water bottle to get Davis out of the car this morning." T.K. replied with a smile as the five of them moved into the small kitchen in the apartment. Both Davis and DemiVeemon flinched at the word water bottle causing Gatomon to laugh.

"It does actually." She replied, before leaving the four of them in the kitchen, heading for the sofa, and what T.K. assumed was a nice cat nap.

"So where's Kari?" Davis asked, looking around the open portion of the Kamiya's apartment. Their friend was nowhere to be seen in the apartment, though all three of the other doors in the apartment were closed and she could have been behind any of them.

Davis stood up and stretched, and then headed straight for the fridge. Opening it up he began rummaging through it, obviously looking for some breakfast.

"Davis, at least wait until Kari gets out here to raid her fridge." T.K. called from where he had sat down at the kitchen table.

Davis ignored him as he looked through the contents of the fridge. Most of it was Mrs. Kamiya's cooking, and therefore belonged in the poison/hazardous material category, but it looked like there were a few store bought things in the fridge. Davis reached for the first thing in reach, but stopped when he saw the label on it.

_**DO NOT EAT THIS DAVIS**_

Davis paused for a second, staring at the label, and then at the rest of the fridge before sighing and putting the food back down.

Luckily a distraction was at hand as he turned from the fridge. Kari entered into the main portion of the apartment, and she was carrying the small device that Tai had given her at their meeting the week before.

That instantly got Davis's attention, and T.K. turned and was as instantly captivated.

"Morning guys." Kari said, getting her a response from both of her friends, and their digimon.

"What's up Kari?" T.K. asked as she sat down at the table.

"Well, Tai said he had an idea about what about to happen, and that he needs our help." Kari replied, and both of the boys nodded.

Tai had been in fairly regular contact, but only with Kari, and on occasion Davis and T.K. He had told them that he wasn't ready to face the rest of his friends just yet, and to keep the fact that he was communicating with them a secret. He hadn't told them much when he contacted them, mostly just to be on their guard and ready for some sort of attack at any moment.

Kari pressed a button on the device, which looked almost like it was a blue tooth headset or something similar, and after a few seconds Tai's voice came over the lone.

"Kari?" He asked.

"I'm here Tai, and so are T.K. and Davis." Kari replied, which prompted DemiVeemon to speak up.

"And DemiVeemon!" He almost shouted into the device, causing Davis to grab the little ball of energy, and put him into a headlock.

The three only heard a short laugh from the other side of the connection before Tai's voice came over the line again.

"Hi everyone, and DemiVeemon." Tai's voice almost sounded like the one that the three digidestined were used to hearing, happy and full of energy, not the serious tone he had almost all the time now.

DemiVeemon renewed his struggles against Davis as Tai obviously wasn't upset by his outburst.

"I need your guys help." Tai said next, his voice getting its serious voice back.

"Sure thing Tai." Davis asserted immediately for the other two. He was falling back into the leadership role he hadn't had to assume in nearly a year every time he talked to Tai. "What do you need us to do?"

"Well, you guys know the advanced party I was telling you about?" He asked, and all three digidestined murmured an affirmative back. "Well, I think they're going to strike soon."

All three of the digidestined sat a little straighter as Tai said this. They'd expected some sort of attack to materialize after Tai had rushed out of their meeting the previous week, but it never had. Tai told them it was because the digidestined were all grouped together in Odaiba, making them a more difficult target to defeat.

Unfortunately, every one of the older digidestined, everyone but Davis, T.K., Kari, and Cody, had returned to college the last couple of days, and now the digidestined were spread all over Japan.

"Everyone is spread all over Japan now, and I can't get enough warning to make it to them in time to help, if I stay here." Tai said, and all three of the digidestined nodded, even though Tai couldn't possibly see the nod. "I want to move closer to the two in Kyoto, because Matt is touring in that area as well." Tai started saying, and all three of the humans in the room shared a look. Sora and Mimi were the two in Kyoto which would mean that Tai would have to encounter them at some point in addition to Matt. "But that would leave you three uncovered, along with the four in Tokyo proper and Cody."

"So you want us to take care of any of these Demon Lady things that try and attack here?" Davis asked, and Tai let out another laugh, this one devoid of the humor from before.

"You better hope there are no Demon Ladies here Davis. None of us have a chance against them on our own. We can only hope to take them out as a concentrated team effort." Tai replied, "But in essence, yes, I want the three of you to help cover the others."

"Tai wouldn't it be easier just to fill all of them in?" Kari asked, a question she had asked many times over the last week. She really wanted her brother to meet with all of his old friends, and she felt it was the best way to help him heal.

"No. They already know something's going on, so telling them wouldn't really tip any of them off, and their digimon can't reach a high enough level to affect the battles that will be fought, unlike yours." Tai replied to Kari's question. "So can the three of you cover for me?"

Kari looked like she wanted to protest more, but Davis held up a hand and stopped her. "Yes Tai, we can handle that."

"Thanks Davis." Tai replied, "Well me and Agumon need to get going so we can make it to Kyoto before anything starts, you guys be careful." A click later and Tai was off the line.

"Davis, why did you stop me!" Kari demands as she stands up from her seat. T.K. looks back and forth between his best friend and his girlfriend, and really wishes they would have a fight.

"Easy Kari, you weren't going to win." Davis replied calmly. "Tai's at least as stubborn as you, if not more so and he never would have given us permission to tell the others."

"So? I could have at least argued it. He could have let us tell them." Kari replied, to which Davis raised an eyebrow. "Ok, fine it wouldn't have done anything, but at least we would have been trying for our friends."

"Who said I wasn't going to do something for them?" Davis replied, a grin appearing on his face.

"What?" Kari asked, surprised at Davis's sudden change.

"What Tai doesn't know won't hurt him. We can let the others know to be more careful at the least." Davis replied cheerfully.

"So you want us to email them and…" T.K. started to put Davis plan together, but Davis stopped him once again.

"No email. Tai will pick that up, so we'll have to go by in person." Davis informed T.K.

"I guess that makes sense…" T.K. said, and that was more than enough for Davis.

"Great. I'll take Izzy and Joe. You two talk to Ken and Yolei, and we'll meet up at T.K.'s to tell Cody!" Davis said, grabbing DemiVeemon and heading out the door before a protest could be heard from either of his friends.

Kari looked after him surprised.

"Since when has he ever wanted to see Joe and Izzy when he didn't need help with homework or a question answered?" Gatomon, who had never been able to fall asleep for her cat nap asked.

"Better question, when has he passed on the opportunity to visit Ken?" Kari asked. Davis and Ken's friendship had been strained when Ken's family moved to the far side of Tokyo from Odaiba, and Davis seized every opportunity to see his DNA digivolution partner.

"Easy." T.K. said, laughing as he said it. "Joe and Izzy's apartment is right by the female senior dorms for Tokyo U."

Kari and Gatomon looked at the laughing T.K. and shook their heads in unison.

"Boys…"

~Joe and Izzy's apartment building~

Davis knocked on the door to Izzy and Joe's apartment for the third time, and once more there was no answer from within.

"Maybe their sleeping? DemiVeemon said from on top of Davis's head.

"No, I think they would have heard my banging on their door, after all their neighbors heard it well enough…" Davis replied to his partner. He turned on his heels and looked out the window lining the wall behind him. It had a view straight out into Ueno park, and Davis just admired it for a second, and then he noticed the sun glinting off of something in the park, a big something.

"What the…" Davis said to himself, just as the big something sent a fireball blasting through the park. Davis didn't know what it was, but it couldn't be good.

"DemiVeemon!" Davis called as he turned towards the stairs. Davis's partner had seen the digimon as well, and jumped forward from Davis's head as Davis's digivice started to glow.

"DemiVeemon digivolve to! Veemon!" Veemon hit the door at a run, Davis just behind him. The two sprinted down the stairs and out of the apartment building before anyone else even realized that there was an attack underway.

"Digi-Armor Energize!" Davis shouted, calling forth the digiegg of Friendship once more to speed his and Veemon's travel.

"Veemon Armor digivolve to! Raidramon the Storm of Friendship!" Raidramon paused just long enough for Davis to grab ahold of one of the spikes on his back before taking off down the street.

_Of course some wild digimon had to choose today of all days to attack in Tokyo…_ Davis thought to himself as they enter the park. Luckily it wasn't hard to locate the digimon, as he left a trail of fire behind him. _And where are Joe and Izzy, they should be taking care of this…_ Davis's thoughts cut off as a giant fire cyclone came into view, and Kabuterimon and Ikkakumon were thrown out of the cyclone.

It resolved into a gold and silver colored digimon that seemed to have a love of skulls, as they covered its body. Raidramon slowed his speedy pace into something much quieter, as both he and Davis had learned the advantage of surprising their enemies.

Someone was talking, and just as it finished the digimon started to talk. The cold calculating voice that it used sent a shiver down Davis's spine as they got closer.

"Thank you for the introduction, digidestined. Unfortunately the bounties on your heads are simply for your heads, not the rest of you." The digimon said, raising the blade that had replaced its right arm.

"Raidramon!" Davis called, as he rolled off of his partners back.

"Thunder Blast!" Raidramon sent a bolt of lightning right at the digimon, who stopped its attack to look at Raidramon.

"Another one?" The digimon asked, and let out a sound that may have been a laugh. "Looks like todays my lucky day."

"Davis!" Another voice called, and Davis looked to see Izzy and Joe, along with their battered and bruised partners, standing just beside the digimon.

"Hey guys! We'll take it from here!" Davis called, waving at the other two digidestined.

"Bone Duster!" The digimon sent a blast that had Raidramon flying, affecting him much more than the digimon had been affected by Raidramon's attack.

"Davis! That's Reapermon, he's a Mega Level!" Izzy shouted to Davis, and Davis's eyes narrowed.

Mega-Levels didn't usually Bio-Emerge into the human world, unless they tried to. They had the strength to resist the forces that pulled lower leveled digimon into the human world, which meant this digimon was here to cause trouble and destruction.

_He may even be one of the advanced party digimon…_ Davis thought as Raidramon jumped back to his side.

"Change of plan Raidramon." Davis said, pulling out his Crest and Digivice.

Raidramon let out a growl just before dedigivolving into Veemon.

"Ready when you are Davis!" He called out, just before running at Reapermon.

Reapermon looked at him in bemusement as the rookie charged towards him. "And what do you think you're going to do to me?" He asked with another of his almost laughs.

"Veemon will handle you just fine!" Davis called out, just as an intense gold light emitted from his Crest. The light consumed everything in the park, causing Reapermon to shield his eyes, as well as Joe and Izzy, while Gomamon and Tentomon both jumped up reenergized.

"Veemon Warp digivolve to! Magnamon!" Veemon hit his most powerful form just as he jumped into the air towards the blinded Reapermon.

"Magna Kick!" He called out, just before his foot connected with Reapermon's face, sending the large digimon flying.

"Agahragh!" Reapermon shouted as the powerful blow sent him into the dirt. He shook his head as he looked up at the hovering Magnamon. Magnamon was glowing with sheer power as he hovered there, arms crossed.

"Bone Duster!" Reapermon attacked as suddenly as he could, bringing the blaster on his left arm around almost faster than the eye could see, but the fiery blast hit empty air.

"Magna Punch!" Magnamon appeared behind Reapermon and sent him sprawling once more.

"You'll have to move faster than that if you want to have a chance of hitting me." Magnamon boasted as he watched Reapermon slowly rise.

"How's this! Bone Duster!" again the attack hit empty air, but this time Reapermon was expecting Magnamon's attack.

"Grim Slasher!" He cut behind him, hitting Magnamon as he attempted to repeat his attack from earlier. Magnamon was sent flying, and Reapermon had the chance to recover by his surprise appearance.

"Bone Duster! Bone Duster! Bone Duster!" Reapermon sent multiple blasts, and managed to hit Magnamon with at least one of them.

"Come on Magnamon! You can take this guy!" Davis shouted towards his partner as he joined up with Izzy and Joe.

"Magna Blast!" Out of the smoke created by the Bone Duster attacks a multicolored blast of plasma shot out, hitting Reapermon dead on, and causing him to crash once more into the ground.

"Magna Punch!" Before Reapermon had the chance to recover, Magnamon was all over him, delivering a flurry of punches straight into the chest of Reapermon. "Magna Punch! Magna Punch!"

"Grim Slasher!" Reapermon sent Magnamon flying after just a couple of seconds, and then both digimon stopped to see the results of their attacks. Magnamon was panting as he hovered in front of Reapermon, a cut on his right arm from one of Reapermon's Grim Slashers, but unharmed other than that. Reapermon, wasn't damaged in the least, but was breathing hard as well.

"What? How can he not be hurt at all!" Davis asked in confusion.

"My body is extremely well armored. You don't have a chance of breaking through it." Reapermon laughed though the laugh turned into a cough.

"Izzy?" Davis asked, turning to the genius.

"The only thing I can think of is the fact that Reapermon is vastly more experienced than Magnamon." Izzy replied, looking back and forth between the two digimon.

"What do you mean?" Davis asked as he too looked between his digimon and Reapermon.

"Reapermon has been at his level for a long time. He knows the optimum power for his most devastating attacks, and exactly when and where to use them. Magnamon is new to his form, and doesn't have the same experience." Izzy replied quickly.

"Experience?" Davis asked, never having heard that digimon got more powerful the longer they used a form.

"Yes, it's the only way to explain how Reapermon's even able to keep up with Magnamon." Izzy replied with confidence.

"It's just like the first time we fought Piedmon. The same thing happened." Joe added.

In unison as Joe Finished saying this first Davis's Crest, and then Izzy and Joe's digivices began to glow.

"Gomamon digivolve to! Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon digivolve to! " Gomamon digivolved into his champion form, but only stayed there for a second before digivolving once more into his ultimate form. Continuing with the aquatic theme of his lower forms, Gomamon's Ultimate form had a large shell on his back, in addition to the hammer carried in his hands. The horn on his head was much more jagged and a mane of hair flowed around his head. "Zudomon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to! Kabuterimon! Kabuterimon digivolve to!" Kabuterimon grew in size, becoming even larger, with a bigger shell forming on his back as he got bigger. His horn grew much larger, splitting into a more hammer like shape, and the color of his body changed from blue to red. "MegaKabuterimon!"

All three humans were awestruck as the two digimon finished digivolving, as where the two fighting digimon.

"What?" Davis asked, confused as to what had happened, but Izzy noticed the fact that his Crest was still glowing.

"Davis! It's your Crest! It reenergized our digimon, and brought Joe and I's Crests out of dormancy!" Izzy exclaimed with excitement.

Davis still looked a little confused, but still turned back to the battle, just as Reapermon attempted to hit Magnamon once more. Magnamon though saw the attack coming and avoided it again, instead hitting Reapermon with his Magna Blast attack once more.

"Agh!" Reapermon shouted as the attack hit him in the back, once more knocking him into the ground.

"Get him MegaKabuterimon!" Izzy shouted to his partner, who took to the skies in response.

"Now Zudomon!" Joe shouted to his partner. Zudomon lumbered forward just as MegaKabuterimon turned around in the sky.

"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon launched his most powerful attack from his horn, straight down at the knocked over Reapermon.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon joined in, slamming his hammer into the ground and releasing a blast of energy. The two attacks hit Reapermon simultaneously, right where Magnamon had hit him with his Magna Blast seconds before.

"Argagh!" Reapermon shouted once more as the attacks hit him.

"Now Magnamon!" Davis shouted to his partner seeing the weakened state Reapermon was in.

"Right!" Magnamon shouted just before speeding towards Reapermon, who had managed to weakly stand up. Magnamon went right at him, and Reapermon aimed his cannon at him, releasing several fiery blast, but Magnamon avoided all of them. Then he reached Reapermon, who slashed downwards with his bladed right arm, but Magnamon literally disappeared before getting hit.

"What?" Reapermon asked as he stumbled forward from the follow through.

"Experience this." A voice said behind Reapermon, "Magna Explosion!"

Magnamon had reappeared right behind Reapermon, and started glowing far brighter than he had at any time during the battle, including when he first digivolved, he did that for about a second then a tidal wave of pure energy exploded out from him, consuming Reapermon right where he had been weakened.

Davis, Izzy, and Joe all ducked for cover, as did Zudomon while MegaKabuterimon stayed in the sky. The explosion disappeared after a few seconds, revealing Magnamon, who hovered there, panting, for a second, just before he dedigivolved into DemiVeemon.

Davis jumped up and managed to catch his partner before he hit the ground. Joe and Izzy walked over to where Davis was standing, just as Zudomon and MegaKabuterimon dedigivolved and came over to their partners.

"Good timing Davis." Joe said, grabbing a hold of Davis's shoulder for support as the battle finally seemed to catch up with him. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

"No problem Joe. I was actually coming to see you two…" Davis started to say, just as four shapes appeared in the sky above them. They quickly came into focus, revealing Stingmon, Aquilomon, MagnaAngemon, and Angewomon all with their partners arriving.

"Best to do the explaining in a group." Davis said with a sigh, sitting down in the grass as the others ran up to them.

Later, after relocating away from the nearly destroyed park to Izzy and Joe's apartment, everything was explained to the other four digidestined.

"So there's some advanced attack party from another dimension attacking us digidestined, and Tai's here to protect us?" Izzy asked after a few minutes of silent contemplation. The three high schoolers all nodded. "But why not just come out and tell us? Why all this secretiveness and hiding?"

"Something happened Izzy, something he still hasn't really told us about that makes it difficult for him to trust people, even us." Kari replied, looking out the window sadly. "I don't know how to help him, but I plan to do everything I can, and right now that's keeping all of you safe." T.K. and Davis both nodded from where they were sitting, flanking Kari.

Izzy just looked at the three of them thoughtfully, that is until his computer let out a rather loud beep. He looked over, as did all the others crowded into his apartment. Izzy hit a few buttons, and then his eyes narrowed.

"There have been two more Bio-Emergences. Both near Kyoto, and, judging from these energy readings, both Mega-Level digimon." Izzy said, and everyone knew what wasn't being said, three of their friends were in that area.

"We need to get there, and help them!" Davis declared, jumping to his feet. T.K. and Kari also jumped to their feet, but the others remained on the ground.

"I don't know if we can Davis. I mean, how are we supposed to get there?" Yolei asked from where she was sitting next to Ken.

"Our digimon can fly us there!" Davis declared, but Izzy stood up at this point.

"We can't all go Davis, but I agree some of us at least should go." Izzy said, using his head, something Davis forgot to do on occasion.

"Why can't we all go?" Davis asked, and Izzy smiled.

"Some of us have to stay here in case something attacks Tokyo in our absence." Izzy said, and Davis nodded in understanding.

Joe stood up as Izzy said that.

"I'll stay behind. Make sure nothing else tries to rampage through our town." He said, and Ken and Yolei agreed. So it was agreed. Joe, Yolei, and Ken would stay behind while Davis, Kari, T.K., and Izzy went to help Tai.

_Well there we go, little bit of action without Tai for once. How was that? Hope you enjoyed. Until next week!_

_Review Replies:_

_Edasama: Thanks, and hope you enjoyed_

_Lord Hierarch: Thanks! And I did really dislike taking out WarGreymon (he's my favorite) but I really, really dislike Greymon and MetalGreymon. GeoGreymon's ok, but I really like BurningGreymon. And his mega….definitely a digimon that's a decent replacement for WarGreymon. And it's all a mix, so yes and no. and I actually hadn't thought of that. It may come into play at a later stage._

_Angelfish369: Thanks! I actually thought of that idea for my very first story idea, but I got incorporated into this one instead. And it's his difficulties in trusting people. He felt betrayed by his best friends in his own dimension (matt and Sora) and then a year later gets betrayed by the new people he meets in a different dimension, and they used him to conquer that dimension. He doesn't trust other people, and in a way he doesn't trust his own ability to decide if people deserve trust._

_TaioraWarrior: Thanks! And yea, that was the main idea. And I haven't completely decided how that chapter(s) will go yet…but I can tell you that it will be interesting, and Sora will have an opportunity to do something that goes a long way to regaining some of Tai's trust._

_LyraXEthan: Yea, I rather like the idea myself. And no, no frontier gang. This story was started before I watched frontier (and grew to really like it), and the way it's plotted out prevents the frontier gang from being included. And you should expect that to come, eventually. And I will, just a little slowly lol._

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Yep! Yay for Tai! Of course it still needs a lot, but it's a step. And yes he is that type of person, it's what makes him, well him._

_Zeobide274: Good to hear! And yea, I do as well, but thing will turn out well for them…eventually. And I can't completely agree with you there. WarGreymon is my all-time favorite digimon, but I really don't like Greymon or MetalGreymon. So I decided to change it up a bit. I don't know how you feel about the other Greymon species digimon, but the only Mega Greymon I really don't like is ShineGreymon. Both Emperor and Victory Greymon I think are almost on the same level as WarGreymon, and neither are very well represented in FF. That's just my opinion, thank you for giving me yours, and hopefully I can make that part of the story a little better in the end. And no, Omnimon probably won't make an appearance in this story._

_Odinson83: Ah…but did I assay where Agumon got his mega level yet? I'd go back and look at the flashback scene at lost Ford, mostly what Tai thinks afterwards. That should give you a good hint as to when Agumon got to Mega, and what form it is *cough*EmperorGreymon*cough*_

_Blank: Thanks a bunch! And yea, I really liked that scene when I was writing it…I felt it was good bit of humor lol._

_Agubiyofan: of course!_


	11. Not So Teenage Wolf part 1

_Well, this was a fast update, so all of you happy readers, be even more happy! No two week delays this time yay!_

_Disclaimer: Once upon a time I didn't own digimon, kinda like right now._

**Chapter 10 (Not So) Teenage Wolf (part 1)**

Matt Ishida ran as fast as he could past the giant tent that covered the snowy grounds. His newest concert had turned from one of the better days of his life into a living nightmare. All because of an old friend who had reappeared.

A blast of flame burst through the tent to Matt's left, and he let out a shout from the intensity of the flames. The sheer force of the attack caused Matt to be sent flying into the ground, rolling to a stop several feet from where he had been running.

He slowly lifted himself up off of the ground to where his attacker was. The large dragon was hovering in the air, courtesy of the pair of wings on its back, and it looked ready to eat Matt then and there. Matt caught the movement of some shape next to the digimon. The shape quickly came into focus, and Matt instantly recognized the person, just like he had when the attack started. His big brown hair, sticking out at all angles made it impossible to mistake him for someone else, even if he hadn't been wearing his usual goggles.

Matt couldn't even get out a word as his old best friend, believed dead for years now, slowly raised an arm and pointed right at him…

~Earlier~

Tai Kamiya made his way through the crowd surrounding the large tent pitched outside of Osaka, one of the major ports for all of Japan, and it just happened to be down the Yodo River from Kyoto. That's one of the things Tai was most thankful for right now.

He had to protect all of the digidestined, and that included the ones who had decided to move outside of Odaiba, and Tokyo. The hardest, by far, was going to be his old best friend, Matt Ishida. He was constantly on the move with his band touring around all of Japan. His current position would allow him to protect the two digidestined in Kyoto, in addition to…speak with Matt.

Right now though a concert was about to start, and thousands of fans were pouring into the large tent erected just for the concert.

_So similar to that pre-Christmas concert so many years ago_, Tai thought to himself as he worked his way through the crowd.

"Tai, are you sure you want to do this?" A voice asked, seemingly coming from nowhere, but Tai knew that it in fact emanated from wrist mounted digivice.

"Yea Agumon. I have to do this." Tai said with determination.

"Ok Tai. I'll back you, no matter what." Tai's digimon partner responded, and Tai allowed himself a smile. Some ghosts would be put to rest at this tent today. With that Tai turned slightly, now heading towards the back of the tent, where the members of the band were getting ready for the concert.

~Inside the Tent~

Matt Ishida aimlessly strummed his guitar, tapping his foot as he strummed. This certainly wasn't his first concert, or even his largest concert (it was far from that in fact) but he still got nervous before the show. He never let anyone see that nervousness, since it would ruin his "cool guy" reputation among his band mates, and his fans.

"Matt, you'll do fine." Gabumon, the dog like digimon that was Matt's partner, said to him, knowing exactly why he was tapping his foot like he was. Gabumon was the one exception to the never letting down the "cool guy" persona. He had been through a lot with Matt, and in many ways was the only person left who he would let his guard down with. Matt didn't know it, but he was almost exactly like Tai was now, at least in many of his interactions.

"I know Gabumon." Matt said, rather hastily, then quickly added, "But thanks." Gabumon just nodded, used to how Matt acted.

Some of the other chosen digimon had asked him how he dealt with Matt say in and day out. They remembered the loner boy they had first met in the digital world and then looked at the loner rock star that he now was and wondered how the relatively meek digimon could stand to be around his human partner, at all.

Gabumon always laughed when they asked this, they just didn't understand. They didn't remember what it was like all those years in the digital world, waiting for their partner digidestined to arrive, and they didn't know the real Matt. Despite all of his flaws, and there were quite a few, Matt was a good person, who always did right by his friends. Gabumon had been very proud of Matt when he had finally started building back the bridges he had burned with the digidestined.

Right after Tai had "died" Matt had gone into his only method of coping with anything, being alone, or with Gabumon, who was smart enough to keep quiet at those times. After Sora, the digidestined who he had been closest to, probably even more so than Tai if in a different way, broke up with him, he just left. He didn't get any comfort mourning in a group, which is all that the digidestined had wanted to do, so he left, and by the time he thought about going back it was too late. The bridges had been burned by his perceived ignoring of them and not one of them, except his brother T.K., would speak to him at all, and it would take a large amount of effort on Matt's part to repair the bridges. That needed effort, coupled with his own guilt for having been in America at the time of the battle that had claimed Tai's life, had stopped him from rebuilding those bridges, until recently that is.

That's why Gabumon was so proud of Matt. He had finally gone back to the friends who had been as close as family to him and the digimon who really were family to Gabumon.

"You're welcome Matt." Gabumon replied, swinging his feet from the too large chair he was sitting on. Matt went almost straight back to tapping his foot, and strumming his guitar, the two things he did when he was stressed, at least when he didn't pull out a cigarette, which Gabumon hated many times more than the tapping and strumming.

Before too long there was a knock on the door, and Matt stood up. Usually one of the other members of the band would stop by and grab Matt to head out on stage on their way out.

_That's a little early…_Gabumon thought to himself as he dropped down from the chair.

Matt opened the door to reveal one of the stage crew standing at the door.

"You Matt Ishida?" He asked, and Matt nodded, too surprised to make a sarcastic obvious remark, since his name was on the door. "There's someone looking for you outside the tent."

Matt looked at him, and shrugged. "Yea, a few thousand fans all here for the show."

"Well this guy claims to be some sort of friend of yours, says you'd want to see him." The crew member replied, ignoring Matt's comment.

"Right, and you actually believe that?" Matt replied, but Gabumon was intrigued. Usually only teenage or younger girls would try and get backstage to see Matt or one of the other Teenage Wolves, never a guy.

"Listen man, I've seen your fans around here the last few days, and this guy definitely isn't one of them." The stage hand replied, and Matt shrugged. "Fine, just figured you'd want to know." The guys left, leaving Matt and Gabumon on their own.

"That was strange." Matt said, heading back and picking up his guitar.

"Matt, I think we should go and see who's at the back stage entrance." Gabumon said after a few seconds. Matt was surprised. Usually his partner went along with what he said, and didn't argue at all. Of course it didn't really matter if he argued or not.

"No Gabumon, I want to get my nerves calmed down, not go talk to some disguised fan." Matt replied, and Gabumon looked down at his paws. That caused Matt to pause. There wasn't really a reason that Gabumon couldn't go…"Hey Gabumon, why don't you go and see who it is. If it's actually someone we know, bring him back, if not, you can scare him away."

"Sure thing Matt!" Gabumon replied, obviously excited. He quickly excited the door, leaving Matt by himself.

Matt immediately went back to strumming his guitar, and tapping his foot, but his thoughts weren't really on the concert. Yea he was nervous for it, that's why he was strumming and tapping, but he wasn't dwelling on it. What he was dwelling on were the emails his brother had sent him, explaining about his encounter with one Tai Kamiya, Matt's (first, and only) best friend, who had been believed killed three years before.

He was just thinking about what his brother had told him about the encounter and it was an easy distraction from his nerves. In fact it was such a great distraction that he didn't notice the small pop that went through his room about a minute after Gabumon left. Just a few minutes later there was another knock on his door, and Matt let out a curse under his breath. He really didn't like being bothered this much, right before a concert.

When he opened the door, no one was there, which, quite obviously, surprised Matt. He had been expecting someone to be there, but there wasn't. In fact leaning out of his door, Matt could see that there wasn't anyone in the hall way at all, which was odd considering the fact that it was usually filled with stage hands moving equipment, or one or two members of the Teenaged Wolves trying to get some of the stage hands into their rooms.

"That's odd…" Matt said in a whisper to himself. He didn't know why, but the he felt it was important to whisper. He walked out of his room and next door to where one of the stage managers should be sitting, waiting for the concert cues. When he walked in, there was no one sitting there. Matt paused for a minute before looking up towards the seating, which should have been at least ¾ of the way full by now.

They were empty. Completely empty and devoid of all people. Matt's eyes widened as he saw this, and he immediately ran out onto the stage. There wasn't a person around, not a single one. Matt was starting to get a little concerned now. His worst concert ever had over a hundred people go to it, and this was supposed to be one of his most popular concerts. There should be more people than this…

Behind Matt was a loud noise, almost like ripping paper. He quickly turned around to see something, something huge at that, ripping through the tent behind him. One look at the claws, and one peep of the growl emanating from the creature was more than enough to send Matt running from the stage towards the entrance next to the stage.

Just as he pushes through the tent flaps into the open, he runs right into something solid. Matt runs into it so fast, and it's so solid, that he falls back onto his butt from hitting it.

"What the hel…" Matt starts to say, but is cut off as he looks at what he ran into. Standing in front of Matt, dressed almost exactly as Matt remembers him, is Tai Kamiya. He looked much bigger than Matt remembered him though, both taller and more muscular. His blue shirt seemed to be too small, despite the fact that Matt was sure it was the same one he always wore.

"Tai?" Matt asks a little shocked as to the appearance of his friend.

"Matt." Tai replied with a tone of voice that Matt had never heard, at least when Tai was talking to him. Nevertheless he held out a hand, which Matt promptly took. Tai lifted Matt off of the ground, and just as quickly delivered a quick, and powerful, punch into his gut.

Matt doubled over immediately as Tai didn't even pause in supplying a knee to his face as he doubled over. This ended with Matt back where he had been a second before, on the ground, only this time not able to breath, and with a freshly bleeding nose.

"I've been waiting a long time to do that to you." Tai said in the same cold voice, as he turned from Matt. He let out a sharp whistle which was answered by a deep roar.

Matt managed to force himself to his feet, managing to regain the ability to breathe, just as a huge monster rose up from behind the tent.

It was a horribly twisted dragon like digimon. It had the upper torso of a man, though it's long and powerful arms ended in claws rather than hands, a dragon's head, which looked ready to devour any and everyone around him especially with the saliva dripping from its mouth, a pair of torn orange wings flowing from its back, and then a long serpentine body below the torso. The digimon floated forward as Tai continued to whistle at it.

Matt managed to take a few breaths by now, and was completely shocked at the sight before him.

"Tai, what have you done to him?" Matt asked, instantly assuming the dragon like digimon was Agumon. It wouldn't have been the first time one of Tai's actions had caused Agumon to turn into a monster.

"What have I done?" Tai asked, sounding angry as he turned towards Matt. "I haven't done anything Matt, this is all your fault. He became like this because you weren't around to help me when I needed you, ever."

Those words tore into Matt as if they had been bullets. They were the exact things that he had been feeling guilty about for over three years now, and his deepest, darkest fear had been that Tai really did blame him for not being here.

"I…I…didn't know anything was going to happen…" Matt managed to stammer out, putting forward the reasoning that he had told himself, and been told by Gabumon, for the last few years.

"You still should have been there!" Tai almost screamed at him.

"Tai…you have to understand…" Matt said, becoming more and more feeble as the look of pure hate on Tai's face became more and more clear.

"No Matt. The only thing I have to understand is that you weren't there, and that left me with this." Tai gestured around him, encompassing the last three years, and the horrible dragon. "You not being there took everything from me, and now I'm going to take everything from you."

Tai gestured to the digimon, and Matt finally shook himself from his frozen state. He had to move, or be killed, and as much as he felt he deserved to be killed, he wasn't ready to die.

Matt took off from where he was standing at a speed earned through many hours of fleeing from adoring fans (fan girls). This seemed to catch the dragon off guard as Tai had to yell at it.

Matt quickly ran around the tent, but was sad to discover that he couldn't get away. The tent had somehow moved much closer to the river than he remembered, and there was no escaping the area. Seconds later the dragon let out a burst of flame that consumed the tent, clearing a path to him for Tai, and knocking Matt over at the same time.

The dragon hovered just off of Tai's shoulder as Matt got up and turned back to face them. There was no escape at this point, and Matt was completely corner. He looked right at Tai as he raised his arm and pointed at Matt, a signal to attack…

~Earlier~

Tai Kamiya leaned against one of the poles supporting the giant tent that was preparing to hold a concert. He really hoped that the person he had talked to at the entrance was actually going to see Matt. It was be great if Matt himself came out here to see who Tai was, but getting at least Gabumon to come check things out would be almost as good.

"Don't worry Tai, things will work out fine. We'll take care of everything easily." Agumon spoke up in a loud whisper (the lowest volume he had, which was about as loud as most people's talking voices)

"I know, I'm just ready to get this over with." Tai said. He had changed part of his outfit for this trip, electing to wear a faded orange shirt under his coat instead of his usual blue shirt this time. He figured the different color might throw someone off of his trail, though he wasn't sure that it would help much.

Tai didn't have to wait long as the tent flap opened up, and out walked a small white and blue dog like digimon.

"Gabumon!" Tai called quietly, getting the digimon's attention. _Finally something seems to be going my way…_ Tai thought as the digimon looked around for the source of the person calling his name.

"Tai?" He asked as he turned towards the source of his name.

"Yea." Tai replied, motioning for the digimon to come over to him. Gabumon looked around cautiously for a minute, and then dashed over to Tai.

He paused a few feet from Tai, and sniffed the air while looking over Tai. After a few seconds of this his face split into a grin.

"It really is you Tai!" He said excitedly. Tai couldn't help himself as he felt his lips tugging upward.

_Maybe the best healer isn't time, but your friends…_Tai thought to himself. It seemed like a good argument about how easy he was finding it to feel good around his friends, after nearly a year of dreading any contact with them.

Of course, he hadn't encountered all of his old friends yet, and he could very easily find it much more difficult with the ones who weren't as close to him, Yolei, Cody, Ken, maybe even Mimi and Joe since they had been doing there own things throughout the years he was in high school and building his close friendship with the digidestined his age and Davis. Then of course was the one person who had been closer to him than all of the other digidestined, maybe even closer to him than Kari. He had saved her life, but not tried to talk to her. He didn't even know if he could talk to her after what had happened when he left, and afterwards. He didn't know if he could trust anyone, except Kari, that much ever again.

But that was neither here, or at this time that he had to worry about it.

"Yea Gabumon, it's really me." Tai replied to his old friend's digimon partner.

"And me!" Agumon piped up from Tai's digivice.

"What…?" Gabumon asked, surprised at hearing Agumon's voice. Tai knew that Gabumon was used to knowing where everyone was around him, thanks to his excellent sense of smell and other things. He wasn't used to a digimon riding in a digivice.

Tai pressed the button that would cause Agumon to realize, or come out of the digivice, and a second later the orange dinosaur was standing with them.

"Agumon!" Gabumon cried out in joy, for once breaking the usually calm face that he put on for everyone else. Agumon and Gabumon had been just like Tai and Matt, best friends, maybe even closer than them since they were DNA digivolution partners, or at least had been.

Gabumon even jumped forward and wrapped Agumon up in a huge hug, which Agumon returned. This was a reunion Tai was happy to have happen. He may have issues with going back to see his friends, but that didn't mean he wanted Agumon, who didn't have those same issues, to miss out on meeting up with his old friends.

Tai let them have their minute, looking around the concert area. He was looking over the tent, checking the skies for anything that could be heading to attack them or Matt. That's why he noticed the slight shift in the tent just before it collapsed.

Screams split the air not a second after the tent falling became rather obvious. Agumon and Gabumon turned around at the screams, but Tai was already moving.

_This can't be a coincidence…_ Tai thought to himself as he bounded up the stairs into the backstage area. The tent was falling from the top, so this portion of it was still up for now, but almost as soon as Tai entered the tent it finished its collapse.

"Tai! Tai!" Tai could hear Agumon calling for him just outside of the tent as it finished coming down around him. Luckily Tai had gotten his arm up, preventing the tent from pinning him.

_Ok, need to get out of the tent…_ Tai thought to himself, and then with his free hand pulled out the deck of cards in his jacket. This deck had probably saved his life more times than he really cared to think about over the last few years, and it was going to get him out of this mess.

_I really need to find a way to thank Takato when I get the opportunity…_Tai thought to himself as he quickly looked through the deck for a card that he could use to get himself out.

_This should work._ Tai thought to himself, finally pulling out a card. He positioned it directly below the card reader in his digivice.

"Digi-modify! Snimon's Twin Sickles activate!" Tai shouted for Agumon's benefit as he activated the data modification held in the card. A few seconds later a slit appeared in the tent, revealing Agumon, with a pair of sickles extending from his arms. Tai jumped for the slit and made it through, letting the tent collapse behind him.

He nodded his thanks to Agumon, looking around at the collapsed tent. People were still running back and forth trying to get away from the now completely collapsed…wait.

Tai notices a rather large bubble floating where a portion of the backstage area had been.

"What happened?" Gabumon asked anyone, concerned most likely for his partner's safety.

"I don't know, but I bet that bubble has something to do with it." Tai said, pointing at the bubble in question. The three moved towards the bubble, climbing over the collapsed tent to get closer. Tai slowed down as they got closer. It seemed very familiar to him, but he pushed on despite the nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

"That's where Matt's room was!" Gabumon exclaimed, and Tai stopped dead in his tracks. He knew exactly what the bubble was, and it was anything but good news.

"Gabumon wait!" Tai called out, and he was just in time. Gabumon turned as Tai called to him, and the flying sword that was going to impale him missed just barely.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon shouted, obviously seeing their assailant. "Pepper Breath!"

Tai tracked the pair of fireballs, and watched them impact uselessly against their target. A tall, clown like digimon was floating just next to bubble, grinning down at them.

"Piedmon…" Gabumon whimpered, and Tai felt that was understandable. The only Piedmon that Gabumon had ever seen was one of the most powerful Mega-Level digimon that the digidestined had ever fought. He had defeated WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon with ease the one time they underestimated him. Of course, this was a different Piedmon, less powerful but if anything more cruel and cunning.

Tai actually had a history with this Piedmon, as it had served in the Demon Lords until Tai had killed him, or so he thought.

"So you're still alive and fighting Kamiya?" Piedmon sneered down at Tai. Tai didn't let himself get angry at the sneer. This digimon attempted to disrupt your strategy, and get inside your head to win a battle rather than going straight at it.

Tai just gave him a cold stare, and activated his D.N.A. Charge with a snap of his finger. This got Piedmon's eyes to narrow, he obviously hadn't forgotten that he had come up on the short end of their last fight.

"Tai what are you doing?" Gabumon asked, not realizing that the fight was in Tai and Agumon's favor rather than Piedmon's.

"Don't worry Gabumon, we know what we're doing." Agumon replied for Tai as he stepped in front of his friend. Tai nodded, glancing down at Agumon, and then powered up his D.N.A. Charge.

"D.N.A.! FULL!" Tai started, but was interrupted by Piedmon shouting.

"Wait! Don't do that! I'll leave." He said, and Tai did in fact stop his D.N.A. Charge, which was a mistake.

Piedmon smiled down at him, then threw up one of his white sheets, used in a number of his magical tricks.

"Of course, you might want to hurry to save your friend. I didn't make any promises for Megidramon…" The last word was barely heard as the sheet covered Piedmon. Tai's eyes widened at his words, and Gabumon tugged on his jacket.

"What did he mean by that Tai?" Gabumon asked, and Tai looked around, hoping he wasn't right.

"He means that a very powerful digimon is about to kill Matt." Agumon replied for Tai, knowing exactly what Tai knew, and why he was searching for any reason to be wrong. "Tai, he has to be in the Square." Agumon gestured towards the bubble, and Tai sighed. He knew Agumon was right, but he really wished he wasn't.

Masks Square is a pocket world created by Piedmon. It does just about anything that Piedmon wants it to do since he was its creator. To start off, it manifested some of a person's worst fears, and made them face them in an unwinnable battle. Usually you had to win through the battle to conquer your own fear. Once that happened, you could leave the Square, but until then you were in a living nightmare. Tai had been through it twice before, but not since the battle at Lost Ford.

"I know Agumon." Tai said, then took a deep breath. "Let's go." Tai dashed forwards after saying that, knowing that even his courage had its limits if he didn't act quickly. He heard Agumon keeping up with him, and felt undeniably lucky. Agumon knew exactly what he was getting into, yet still followed him without question. Tai couldn't have asked for a better friend. Gabumon was also with them, though he didn't have any idea what they were about to get into.

Tai just wished he knew why Piedmon had let them leave so easily. _He must really not have expected me to be here…_Tai thought to himself as he ran forward. Piedmon had always been a coward, never fighting unless it had to, or victory was assured. He wouldn't have done this knowing that Tai was here. He would have had several other digimon attack Tai, while he waited for an opportune moment to strike. Then it hit Tai. _THERE MUST BE ANOTHER ATTACK IN TOKYO…_Tai realized, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was approaching the edge of the Square, so he was even out of time to think. _Davis and the others will just have to handle it._

Tai pushed out one last burst of speed, and ran right into the barrier of the Square.

~Inside Masks Square~

Matt was at the edge of the cliff that had suddenly appeared behind his concert tent, with an angry, and vengeful Tai, along with a horribly twisted Agumon, getting ready to finish him off.

Tai's arm came up, forming a straight line from him to Matt.

"Destroy him!" He cried out to the digimon, and Matt did the only thing he could do as the digimon opened its mouth, and flames could be seen, he jumped off the cliff.

The drop was about ten times larger than it was when Matt had first looked at it, and the bottom was even farther away the more he fell. Then suddenly he wasn't falling anymore. Something had caught him.

"MATT!" Matt looked up to see Gabumon riding on the back of a digimon that Matt had never seen before who was carrying Matt in his claws, and sitting next to him, dressed differently was Tai. One who wasn't glaring at him, or ordering digimon to attack him.

"Megiddo Flame!" A shout called from behind them, and Matt turned to see the giant digimon that had been pursuing him following them, and emitting a large blast of flame. A Tai was on his back, glaring down at them in contempt.

The digimon that was carrying Matt dodged the blast of flame, and the one after it, and the one after that, but each one was getting closer.

"Hold on!" The digimon shouted, just before it did a flip in midair so it was now pointing at their pursuer. "Pyro Barrage!" The two yellow blade-like objects on the digimon's arms rotated so that the narrow end was pointed right at the digimon attacking them. They then started firing blasts of energy back at him. Several hit him, causing explosions, and the digimon followed up, sending out a constant attack.

"BurningGreymon, find some solid ground for us!" Tai ordered from where he was holding onto Gabumon to prevent him from falling off and the digimon. Seconds later they were on the ground with no sign of their pursuer. Gabumon ran right up to Matt, who was just as relieved to see his partner. Then it was time to get some answers.

"What the hell is going on?" Matt said to Tai, as he walked over to Tai.

"Good to see you too Matt." Tai replied coldly, and Matt's eyes narrowed. He's already fought one Tai today, and he was eager to get some payback for that.

Tai didn't regret his words, but he should have had better control over himself. The last reunion he had had gone off without a single problem, he shouldn't have expected the same thing, especially after seeing the pseudo him on the back of Megidramon.

Tai help up his hands as he saw Matt tense up. He was ready to fight him with his fists, but that would only help Piedmon accomplish his goal.

"Matt stop, I can explain." Tai said, and Matt unclenched his fist.

"You better be quick." Matt said shortly, and he regretted it as soon as he said it. Here he was with the best friend he had though dead for three years, and they were getting ready to fight. "What is with this place?" Matt put more anger into that question, but it wasn't directed at Tai, and Tai could tell that.

"It's called Masks Square. It's a pocket world made by a Piedmon that will display one of your deepest darkest fears, usually the one that will affect you the most." Tai replied, and there were a number of voices suddenly whispering around the four. Gabumon and Matt looked around confused, while BurningGreymon looked at Tai, and Tai just turned completely pale. All the color drained from his face as the whispering started.

"Tai…go away…Tai….no one wants you…Tai…you're a failure…Tai…this is all your fault…Tai…" The voices said, though Matt could only make out a little of it, but most of it seemed directed at his friend rather than at him.

"TAI!" BurningGreymon called down to his partner, but he wouldn't look up. He was staring straight ahead to where three figures were starting to take shape, directly in front of him. Matt finally looked between Tai, noticing the fact that he looked like a ghost, and the shapes taking form in front of them.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the giant twisted dragon digimon from earlier decided to reappear at this moment.

"Megiddo Flame!" It shouted sending its fiery attack right at them. BurningGreymon jumped forward, interposing itself between Matt, Tai, and Gabumon and the flames.

"Matt! You've got to snap Tai out of it!" He shouted to Matt as he took the attack on his back.

"I don't even know what he's in!" Matt replied, confused. Tai was till staring straight ahead, not moving an inch.

"It's his worst fear!" BurningGreymon shouted, and despite the fact that he knew Tai didn't want him to tell what had happened to anyone else, he had to at this point. "Three friends used Tai to conquer an entire world, and then turned on him and betrayed him." Matt winced, knowing that couldn't have been good for Tai in the least. "Tai had been close to them. Their betrayal would have been like you, Davis, and Sora all turning on him!" That finally put things into perspective for Matt, and somehow he knew this was exactly why Tai had been avoiding contact with the digidestined, he was, for some reason, afraid of another betrayal.

Matt walked right up to Tai, who was still staring straight ahead.

"Tai!" Matt put an arm on each shoulder, shaking him to get his attention. "Tai! I'm not going to betray you! You still have friends here!" Tai didn't seem to be listening to Matt, and even started to shudder as he glanced over his shoulder. That's when Matt decided that enough was enough. He cocked back an arm, and then threw it forward, connecting with Tai's face in the process.

That punch knocked Tai backwards, and off of his feet. He stared straight up, blinking for a second, and then looked up. Matt held out a hand for him, and he took it.

"I'm still your friend Tai." Matt said as he pulled Tai up off of the ground. Tai looked at him, not at the shapes behind him, and slowly nodded. At almost the same second he did that three things happened, the whispers stopped, the world shrank until it popped, and there was a bright flash.

After the pop, they all found themselves outside, in the middle of the ruined, and now empty, tent. Unfortunately Megidramon was still trying to burn off BurningGreymon's back, so they still had an enemy. Fortunately however, Matt had a solution for that. The bright flash.

"Gabumon Warp digivolve to!" Gabumon grew in size into a good sized wolf like digimon, encased in metallic Chrome Digizoid armor. He had a bladed tail and a pair of jet like wings that folded into him. "MetalGarurumon!"

"Shall we end this party?" MetalGarurumon asked BurningGreymon who was still blocking the attack.

"With pleasure!" BurningGreymon replied, and then turned into the attack, presenting his front to Megidramon. The fire of the attack wrapped all around him, but BurningGreymon seemed to invite this. All of a sudden multiple ports on his body opened up, and BurningGreymon shook himself, as if to get something out of his back. Fire burst out of the open ports, and he shouted. "Wildfire Tsunami!"

BurningGreymon let out a burst of fire, which, thanks to the modification of his data by Tai earlier, overpowered Megidramon's and hit him. The giant dragon was flipped over by the attack, at which point MetalGarurumon jumped into the air.

"Ice Wolf Claw!" Every single one of the (many) gun ports on his body opened up, and dozens of missiles raced out from him. The all impacted the crashed Megidramon, hitting all over him, and turning him into a complete digisicle.

"Let's finish him!" BurningGreymon called as he joined MetalGarurumon in the air.

"Right." MetalGarurumon replied, and both digimon prepared their final attacks.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon sent a cold wave which was so cold that it was absolute zero right at the already frozen Megidramon, while at the same time…

"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon sent out dozens of his solar energy blasts that broke the ice covering Megidramon, just in time for both of their attacks to hit him full bore. The both watched as Megidramon exploded into hundreds of digital particles.

Down below them Matt slapped Tai on the back, finally finding something to be glad about today.

"It's good to have you back."

_Bam! How was that? Interesting for anyone? Well Matt knows some of what happened to Tai while he was gone, wonder what he's going to do with that info? Find out next time!_

_Review Replies:_

_Dark Anbu Knight: Thanks! And I'd love to hear the challenge, but I don't really have the time to write anything more than a one shot. I'm already committed to three long stories, and I'm strapped for writing time already._

_my daydream world: Thanks! And that's really exciting to hear. I know the feeling you're talking about, and it's really awesome that you like this story that much. Hope it doesn't disappoint!_

_TaioraWarrior: Thanks! And yea, Reapermon… cool guy, but no, I'd never heard of him until I was looking for cool bad guy digimon. I never played that game unfortunately, though Omegaman had, and made the same connection that you did, which made me laugh lol. And yea, the whole scene I was writing reminded me of that, so I decided to bring it out into the open lol. And on to the questions. Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya are both very busy, one of the coping mechanisms, and Kari hasn't really had a chance to tell them yet. As for question two, let's just say that she had managed to completely drive Sora out of Tai's mind, and repair the damage that had been done to Tai after rejection and the whole using him to get back at Matt thing, at least until she stabbed him in the back and ripped his heart out._

_HikariNoTenshi-San: lol, well I tend to think of Izzy and Joe as the most mature and grown up of the digidestined, older beyond their years. I didn't mean for them to come off as old people though lol._

_Zeobide274: Unfortunely I have to disagree with you. For some reason I can't like Greymon and MetalGreymon. I think WarGreymon (who is the coolest digimon of all time, hands down) and Agumon (best rookie ever) make up for that, but I just can't like them for some reason. Hey just seem big and fat to me. It's a personal thing though, and I can understand you preferring them. How did the start of Matt and Tai's meeting measure up (look for more in the next chapter). And for Omnimon, well look for Tai to have more tricks up his sleeve. This will be an obvious hint, but look at Tamers for the answer to that. Also, I intended for this to be a cross over fic, so expect some help from the other series, not to mention the other three mega digimon on the digidestined's team._

_Supershooter: Yea, I intend for him to have met with everyone within two chapters. And Thanks! I'll try and keep it up!_

_Appealtoreason: lol I'm glad you're liking it so far, and unfortunately that's going to take some time to happen. I want the whole relationshipness to take a little longer than I usually do. Though, you should find out some more about the three in about three or four chapter, so that's something to look forward to._

_Edasama: Thanks! And the full reunion will take a little while, though more Matt and Tai reunion next chapter._

_Narutoshamanking: Thanks! And will do!_

_LyraXEthan: Thanks!_


	12. Confessions Part 2

_Well here we are again, with a direct continuation of last chapter. All of you people who were hoping for a bit longer reunion between Matt and Tai, well here you go, enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I don't can has digimon._

_**Last Time:**__ Tai traveled to Osaka to see his old best friend, Matt Ishida, with a burden on his chest. When he arrived he found Matt's concert under attack by an old foe of his, Piedmon. He'd trapped Matt inside a Pocket Universe called Masks Square which gave shape to the worst fears and insecurities of the person trapped inside of it. Tai managed to get in to rescue Matt, but ended up needing rescuing himself as he fell prey to Masks Square himself. Then together he and Matt were able to defeat Piedmon's going away present, a powerful Mega-Level digimon called Megidramon._

**Chapter 11 Confessions (Part 2)**

"It's good to have you back."

Tai Kamiya staggered forward as Matt Ishida slapped his back. He didn't feel good in the least bit, despite the fact that he was reunited with his one-time best friend.

"Tai?" Matt asked as he grabbed Tai's arm to prevent him from falling to the ground.

"I'm fine." Tai lied after a second.

_Masks Square has never affected me this much…_ Tai thinks to himself as BurningGreymon and MetalGarurumon land in front of their partners and proceed to dedigivolved.

_It's because you're weak!_ A part of Tai taunted at him, and he became if anything paler than he was a second before.

"Yea, you still suck at lying." Matt said as he kept an arm under Tai's, supporting a large percentage of his body weight as the goggle wearing young man started to collapse. "Agumon help me with him."

The yellow dinosaur quickly ran over to where Matt was holding up his partner. Tsunomon, the In-Training Level of Matt's partner, hopped over as well, though he couldn't really help since he was little more than a bouncing head with a spike.

That's when Matt seemed to notice his surroundings. Dozens of people were milling about the recently collapsed, and even more recently burned and frozen, tent that was supposed to have held Matt's next concert. Dozens of emergency response personnel were also around, and all of them were staring right at Matt, Tai, and their digimon.

Matt looked at all of them and then grinned sheepishly. They couldn't have missed the massive showdown between MetalGarurumon, BurningGreymon, and Megidramon, and were probably wondering what was going on.

"Uh, Matt, it might be a good idea to get out of here." Agumon said as he helped lift the now unconscious Tai up.

"Probably." Matt replied, and then started shuffling towards the parking lot. His car was there and would be the fastest way out of there.

"Hey you! Stop!" A voice called out, and Matt glanced back over his shoulder to see a police officer walking towards him.

_Crap…They're going to want answers, and I don't know what the hell's going on…_ Matt thought to himself as the cop got closer.

"Where are you taking him?" The cop asked as he got closer to Matt and the digimon. Matt opened his mouth, but didn't have any idea what to say. Luckily for him, Agumon seemed to be a faster thinker.

"Our friend got hurt, and we're taking him to the hospital." The yellow dinosaur like digimon replied, and the officer turned towards him.

"And why didn't you just take him to the paramedics?" The officer asked.

"They're busy, and he just fainted." Agumon replied again.

The cop looked at Agumon again for a few seconds, and then nodded.

"Ok, go ahead."

Matt let out a sigh of relief as the cop left. He didn't really want to explain the battle and exactly what had happened to that cop, especially with Tai knocked out. He and Agumon managed to get Tai to the car and dropped into the back seat.

A short, and slightly awkward trip, Agumon and Tsunomon were the only ones who talked, later Matt and Agumon were pulling Tai through the lobby of the rather nice, and expensive, hotel that Matt was staying at.

A few minutes later they were standing in the middle of Matt's room, after depositing Tai on the sofa.

"Well, what do we do now?" Matt asked after a second as he was completely out of ideas. His main goal had been to get Tai out of sight and someplace safe, which for now was his hotel room. He had a million questions burning on his mind for his friend, but him being knocked out prevented him from going and asking them.

"Do you have any food?" Agumon asked after a second, and Tsunomon jumped up and down next to him.

"Yea! Food!" The small orange furred digimon shouted as it jumped up and down.

Matt looked between the two, and almost smiled. He'd forgotten Agumon's legendary bottomless stomach, and the fact that as an In-Training Level digimon Tsunomon would be almost as hungry.

Matt headed to the small kitchen attached to the room, and checked through the cupboards and the fridge, but was dismayed to find that there was not a single bit of food in the room.

"I'm sorry guys, but there's absolutely no food here at all." Matt said turning to the two digimon. They both instantly looked downcast as he informed them. That's when Matt had sudden inspiration.

"We can go buy some though. I'm sure there's a grocery store around here somewhere." Matt said, and both digimon instantly cheered up. "Tsunomon, you wait here in case Tai waked up. I'll take Agumon with me to the store."

"What? Why?" Tsunomon asked, confused about why his partner wouldn't want to take him along, or leave Tai's partner to wait for him to wake up.

"Agumon can actually help me carry stuff." Matt replied, and Tsunomon, though still looking doubtful, nodded. Matt headed for the door almost immediately after that, while Agumon paused for one last look at Tai before following him.

The elevator ride was a fast one, and once they had left the hotel for the streets Matt could no longer contain the questions that were just dying to come out.

"Where have you guys been?" The first one came out as they walked out onto the only marginally busy sidewalk.

"Exactly where Izzy figured out we were, another dimension." Agumon replied, and Matt looked down at him.

"How did you know Izzy figured that out?"

Agumon stopped, and as Matt looked at him he realized that the digimon hadn't meant to let that slip.

"Agumon, how did you know that?" Matt asked again, and the digimon sighed.

"We've been in contact with Kari, T.K., and Davis, sharing information." Agumon replied as he started walking again. "Tai asked them not to tell any of the other digidestined that he'd been in contact with them."

"Why would he…" Matt started to ask, but the answer came to his mind as he remembered the battle form earlier.

"_It's his worst fear!" BurningGreymon shouted, as he tried to hold off the attacks from the larger Megidramon. "Three friends used Tai to conquer an entire world, and then turned on him and betrayed him." Matt winced, knowing that couldn't have been good for Tai in the least. "Tai had been close to them. Their betrayal would have been like you, Davis, and Sora all turning on him!" _

_Tai was staring straight ahead to where three figures were starting to take shape, directly in front of him. Matt finally looked at Tai, and noticed the fact that he looked like a ghost, and he noticed the shapes taking form in front of them._

"It was those three you told me about in that other place, isn't it." Matt stated rather than asked after remembering what had happened.

"Yes." Agumon replied simply. "As I said then, they betrayed him. He's had difficulties with trusting anyone since then, even the digidestined."

"But he has to know we would never do that to him!" Matt exclaimed as the two finally located a grocery store.

"He may acknowledge that in his head, and I really think he has started to, but in the deepest part of him he can't trust like that again, at least not yet." Agumon replied, and then started to continue. "And then of course there was what was happening just before the battle with Parallelmon."

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked his friend's partner as they entered the store and started filling a cart with food for the room.

"Think back to what was going on back then Matt." Agumon replied, and something told Matt that he wouldn't come out and say what he was referring to, Tai had probably told him not to talk about it. Therefore the only option left to Matt was to figure it out himself.

He thought back to that time as he picked out a few more things from the shelf. Things had seemed pretty good to him. The digital world didn't have any problems going on to distract the digidestined from life, and was very peaceful. He and Tai were seniors, getting ready to graduate. Tai had a soccer scholarship, and Matt's band was really taking off with a new recording gig in America. The only bad thing that Matt could think of was the number of fights that he'd had with Sora…

_That's it…_ Matt thought as his mind went over the facts of three years ago. _Agumon's referring to the things between Tai, Sora, and me._

Matt had started dating his and Tai's mutual friend Sora, though she was Tai's other best friend, the other side of the coin of friendship that Matt was. Tai and Sora had always been close, so close in fact most people had always assumed that they were dating, or if they knew them better assumed that they were going to be dating at some point. Matt knew that Tai liked Sora, he'd have said love, but he didn't know enough about that emotion himself to really be able to judge others, and he'd always thought that Sora had felt the same way back. That's why he'd been surprised when she'd started talking to him more and more, and not in just a friendly way.

He'd been more than surprised, but figured no harm would come out of flirting with Sora, after all she wasn't really his type. He'd realized a little later that she was in fact his type, and started to develop feelings for her. It all came to a head at his Christmas Concert during the digidestined world tour, as Izzy had christened their trip around the globe. Sora had arrived at his concert, nervous as hell, with some cookies for him. Matt had decided that she was obviously interested in him, just as he had become interested in her.

He'd asked her out for ice cream after the concert, though that date hadn't exactly happened, and they had started dating after that point. Matt had felt a little guilty at first, after all his best friend had liked Sora for longer than he had, but Tai had never acted like he had a problem with it, so Matt assumed there was none. Matt still didn't really know what had really happened, but Tai had been more distant after those days.

Whereas he, Sora, and Matt had almost always hung out together, at least when soccer, tennis, and band practice allowed it, after Matt and Sora started dating Tai stopped hanging out with both of them. He still spent plenty of time with Matt, and with Sora, but never together. It wasn't that big of a deal at first, at least Matt didn't think it was, but the avoiding got more pronounced the longer he and Sora dated.

Then things had started to fall apart for Matt and Sora. Matt had been focusing in his band, while Sora was looking for more attention from her boyfriend. That had led to a series of fights between the two, each one larger than the one before it. Matt had honestly started to care less if they continued as a couple, but one thing had always kept him going back, his best friend.

Tai had worked for both of his friends, trying to keep them together with a skill that had honestly surprised Matt. Who would have expected his hot headed and impulsive best friend to be excellent at reconciling his and Sora's relationship? He accomplished it in a way that had smoothed over every problem the two had presented to him, at least for that week. Usually they were fighting again by the next week, but Tai had always convinced them to give it another try, not exactly the way you would expect someone to act when his best friend was dating his crush.

Of course Matt had never really understood exactly how much Tai had cared for Sora and, in his own way, for Matt himself.

Kari had explained it to him after Sora had broken up with him after Tai's "death." Tai wanted Sora to be happy more than anything else, at least that's what Kari had said he wanted, and had done his best to make sure that happened. The fact that it had made Matt happy at the same time had made it seem like a really good idea to Tai, even if it left him unhappy.

Matt had never suspected a thing, and had to be told by his sister afterwards as a cryptic explanation for Sora's dumping of him. Matt knew something had happened just before the big battle with Parallelmon, And that it had really opened up Sora's eyes to her true feelings, maybe for the entire time they had been dating.

_Well, I guess I finally get to talk about that…_ Matt thought to himself as he and Agumon checked out. He spotted several cartons of cigarettes behind the counter, and told the cashier to add them as well. He had a feeling he'd need something to calm his nerves before the day was out.

Matt had never felt really guilty about his decisions about dating Sora. It wasn't his fault that she had started talking to him, and they had both found that they enjoyed one another's company. Tai had his opportunity, and Sora had chosen Matt over him.

Despite those facts Matt couldn't help but feel that the cigarette's calming effect on his nerves might be useful before the day was over.

~Earlier in the Hotel Room~

Tai Kamiya slowly opened his eyes and as he took in his surroundings he was instantly confused. He was in a rather nice looking apartment or hotel room, one he had never been in before and that he had no recollection of entering this room.

_Ok, what is the last thing I remember._ Tai thought to himself, as he started to sit up. He quickly found out that was a bad idea as his body felt entirely drained of energy. _Ok, bad idea. _

Tai looked around the part of the room that he could see from where he was sprawled out on the sofa, but that didn't tell him anything about where he was or how he'd gotten here.

"…now let's see, if I try bouncing backwards, maybe…." A voice suddenly said from the far side of the sofa, followed by grunting and then a sigh. "Or not."

Tai mustered up the strength to sit up, and looked over the sofa to see Tsunomon, with his horn stuck in one of the cabinets in the hotel room's kitchen. He was talking to himself and attempting to unstick himself, with minimal results.

Tai willed himself to his feet, and headed over to where the small orange digimon was stuck. The sight of Tsunomon had sparked his memory, and as he walked back he remembered exactly what had happened earlier.

Masks Square, a pocket universe created by a particularly vile Piedmon, had swallowed up Matt, and Tai had to break into it to rescue him from a Megidramon that Piedmon had left for him.

_Breaking dimensional barriers can be a draining experience…._ Tai remembered being told by one of his earliest allies, Thomas, when he'd created a device that could possibly return Tai home. The way he had explained it using a portal to enter a dimension didn't affect the traveler, but if you just broke through it, like the device that Thomas had made was designed to do or what Tai had done to get into Masks Square, it could sap energy from you to power your transition.

_Well at least I know why I feel like I just ran a marathon, and got my ass kicked…_ Tai thought to himself.

"Need some help Tsunomon?" Tai asked as he neared the In-Training Level digimon.

"AAHHHHH!" The digimon shouted as Tai obviously startled him.

"Calm down Tsunomon." Tai said, with a weak smile. "It's just me."

"Tai?" Tsunomon replied as he tried to twist around to see the human. He had more than a little difficulty as his horn was stuck, literally in the wall of the cabinet.

"Yea," Tai replied, and almost despite himself added, "Who'd you expect Myotismon?"

"Uhh…" The digimon seemed a little confused by his question.

"Never mind, let me just get you out of this." Tai said, stepping up so he could grab Tsunomon, and yanked him out of his stuck position.

Tai was a little surprised with how easy it was, and ended up falling backwards as he used more force than was needed. Tsunomon went flying as Tai landed right on his butt.

"I'M FREE!" The small digimon shouted as it proceeded to jump around the room.

Tai just shook his head at the exuberance of the usually more reserved digimon. Then of course even the most stoic of digimon degenerated to a more childlike behavior when they were in their In-Training Level. Tsunomon calmed down after a few seconds of jumping around, and Tai decided to ask him how he'd gotten stuck.

"Tsunomon, how exactly did you get stuck in that cabinet?" Tai asked.

"Well, you see," The digimon started to say. "I was looking for some food, and thought I saw some. When I tried to get closer my horn blocked me from doing that. So I decided to see if I could break through to get closer to the food, and then I got stuck." The digimon started blushing as he finished his story, but Tai just shook his head.

He stood up to go inspect the cabinet in question for the food Tsunomon was looking for, but what he found certainly wasn't food.

"Tsunomon, you better be glad you couldn't get to this thing." Tai said as he pulled out a mouse trap that was in the very back of the cabinet. "It certainly wouldn't have felt good."

"What is it?" Tsunomon asked as Tai showed him the trap.

"It's a mouse trap. Humans use them to trap small furry animals that eat their food." Tai replied, and was surprised when Tsunomon's eyes got huge.

"Like…like, me?" The digimon exclaimed, and Tai was taken aback. Then he realized exactly what he said, and almost had to laugh again. He restrained himself though, and settled for a smile.

"No Tsunomon, Earth animals, not digimon." Tai replied, and the digimon let out a visible sigh of relief. Tai looked around, starting to get suspicious of why he had been the one to rescue Tsunomon. Matt or Agumon should have been around to help the poor little guy.

"Hey Tsunomon, where are Matt and Agumon?"

"They went to the store for some food!" Tsunomon replied, a dreamy expression coming over his face as he thought about the food.

Tai just shook his head again. Tsunomon's behavior was rather atypical of his personality, which was usually more reserved. Tai just assumed that he wasn't used to being in the In-Training Level. He in a way had regressed in his maturity far more than usual since he wasn't used to the way his body was making him feel right now.

"I see." Tai replied, and sat down at the table. He needed to start looking ahead to what he would have to deal with next. He was certain that there were attacks happening somewhere else in Japan, somewhere he was expected to be. Piedmon was powerful and cruel, but also a coward. He wouldn't have launched an open attack unless he was reasonably certain that Tai would be distracted somewhere else.

_That means Tokyo. _Tai thought to himself as he sat there. _But he wouldn't have been that open with only one string in his attack. His attack was low key, designed to take out Matt with minimal fuss during the attack. But I would have known what was going on if I heard about it. There must have been another attack that was designed to go off as I rushed here from Tokyo…_

Tai's musings were interrupted by Tsunomon jumping up onto the table in front of him.

"Tai?" The digimon asked as he looked right at Tai.

"Yes?" Tai asked back.

"Is Matt still your friend?" Tsunomon asked, and Tai was taken aback.

"What?" He replied.

"Well Matt," The digimon started, "He isn't sure you're still his friend. He thinks it's his fault about what happened three years ago, and nothing I say can make him stop."

Tai looked at the small digimon thoughtfully. He hadn't really thought about the battle with Parallelmon in a long time. In fact other than right after the event he hadn't thought about it in depth. He'd had bigger things to worry about, like getting his digivice fixed, and later trying to stop the Demon Lords. But things had to be different here. The digital world had been at peace for the last three years thanks to the Digimon Sovereigns and nothing had come from other dimensions thanks to the barrier. That meant that all the other Digidestined had instead focused on that battle.

_Matt would feel guilty._ Tai thought to himself. Matt had always cared for his friends, and being stuck in America would have done exactly that. Even though there was no way he could have known that attack was coming Matt wouldn't have been thinking about it clearly.

Tai opened his mouth to reply when the door to the hotel burst open. Matt and Agumon entered, carrying quite a few bags that seemed stuff with food.

"Tsunomon, we're back!" Matt called as the two of them walked the rest of the way into the room. Tai stood up and took some of the bags from Agumon, prompting him to exclaim.

"Tai!" Agumon exclaimed loudly.

"Hey." Tai replied calmly. By this time Matt had also deposited his groceries on the table as well, and was able to see Tai clearly. The two digimon looked between their partners for a second before the allure of the food dragged them to the table where they both proceeded to eat all of the food as quickly as possible.

The two friends just stood there staring for a second, neither one quite sure where to start. For Tai he'd originally come to apologize for what had happened between him and Sora right before he left, just to clear his own chest. Now he found himself wanting to try and alleviate Matt's sense of guilt. He was constantly surprised how easy it was to find himself doing the one thing he had thought he would never be able to do again, care for his friends.

Matt on the other hand hadn't really had anything that he needed to talk to Tai about, other than getting answers to some of his questions, and catching up with him. Now though he wasn't entirely sure if Tai would even want to talk to him. The guilt that he had always felt for not being around for the battle with Parallelmon was now being amplified by the guilt he refused to believe he had, the guilt for dating the girl he knew his best friend wanted to date.

The two just looked each other over, trying to figure out what the other was thinking just with a stare down. Finally it broke, though the result almost left things how it was before.

"Look Matt you shouldn't feel guilty about the whole Parallelmon thing…" Tai started to say.

"Look Tai we need to talk about the whole thing between me, you, and Sora…" Matt said at nearly the exact same moment.

The two looked at each other, and then turned to their digimon.

"Agumon!" Tai said pretty loudly, startling the yellow dinosaur.

"Tsunomon!" Matt shouted at the exact same moment, actually causing the little orange digimon to jump into the air in fright. Agumon caught his friend, and then turned and glared at the two humans.

"What?" He asked.

"I told you not to talk to him about anything!" Tai replied, sounding exasperated. Agumon just glared back at him.

"Tai, if I hadn't told him, then the two of you would have pretended that nothing was wrong and never worked out your problems." The digimon replied, and then picked up Tsunomon and one of the bags of food. "Now you two talk about your problems, and me and Tsunomon will wait in here." He walked into the attached bedroom as that point and slammed the door.

The two humans were stunned for a second, and then Tai shocked both him and Matt by letting out a long laugh. Matt looked at him for a second before joining in. The two settled down at the table after a few seconds of laughing.

"Man, I forgot how not quiet Agumon was." Matt said after the two settled down.

"You'd be surprised, this is the most vocal he's been, at least on this subject, in a year." Tai replied, and then settled back. "I guess I'll start, if you don't mind."

Matt looked at him, and flashed a rare genuine grin.

"Of course not, our fearless leader should always go first." Matt said still grinning, and Tai actually laughed again.

"I haven't been called that in years…" Tai said, fondly. He found that his experience with Kari, Davis, and T.K. was anything but a fluke. When he was around his old friends he found it hard to not fall back into his old attitudes. The nickname just brought it all back even faster.

Back during their first trip to the digital world Tai and Matt had fought several times about how the digidestined should be lead. Tai had a more head strong approach, while Matt was always quick to caution against quick and impulsive actions. They had clashed more than once in the digital world, but eventually they had grown up, matured and realized that they were both right. After that point Tai had been the not quite unofficial leader of the digidestined, and Matt had taken to referring to him as their fearless leader.

"I figured as much. You haven't exactly been around for me to call you that." Matt replied, and Tai just shrugged. "but feel free to go first."

"Ok." Tai replied, and then decided to be as blunt as possible. "Why do you feel guilty about the whole Parallelmon incident?"

Matt tensed up as Tai dived right into it, and took a breath.

"I should have been there." Matt replied, and Tai shrugged.

"No, you should have been exactly where you were, in America." Tai replied, but he knew things wouldn't be that simple.

"I should have been here Tai!" Matt almost shouted, pushing his chair back from the table. "I should have been there to help you! It shouldn't have been you fighting that thing all on your own!"

"I wasn't alone Matt, Kari and Sora were both there." Tai replied calmly. This was something of a situation reverse for the two friends. Usually Tai would be the one to be wearing his emotions on his shoulder, while Matt was the more reserved person, but things were the exact opposite right now.

"They couldn't have helped, but I could have!" Matt replied, pacing now.

"No Matt you couldn't have." Tai replied. "Unless you think you could have figured out how to restrain me, then I think the outcome would have been exactly the same."

"I could have stopped the battle sooner! MetalGarurumon could have!" Matt replied, not seeming to understand what Tai was telling him.

_Ok, looks like I'll have to use some visual proof for this..._ Tai thought to himself, and pulled out his digivice.

"Let me show you something Matt." Tai replied, and activated the library function on his digivice. It had the ability to store several videos on the hard drive, and Tai had run into enough Parallelmon to have videos of them.

He picked a particularly bad battle and activated the projection. Matt came over as the battle started to play out. A dozen Mega level digimon all started to attack a Parallelmon. The large Parallelmon was able to beat them off easily.

"This was a battle I was in a few years ago." Tai said, "We had the help of the Royal Knights of this dimension, one of whom should be very familiar to you." Almost as soon as Tai said that, an Omnimon entered the fray, firing off several blasts of his Supreme Cannon. Parallelmon was unaffected by the attack.

The battle continued for several minutes until an Imperialdramon entered the battle. Omnimon and Imperialdramon combined to form Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, who was barely able to stop the attack.

"Parallelmon are some of the most powerful digimon to ever come into existence. They absorb the power of both digimon and their human partners to power themselves." Tai said as he turned off the projection. "He'd have given Armageddemon a run for its money. We would have needed everyone at the battle. You being there would have just meant that you were in danger."

Matt was still looking at the table, not looking directly at him, and Tai reaches over and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know if this helps Matt, but I've never blamed you." Tai said, and he felt completely out of his depth. Once he wouldn't have felt that way when trying to comfort his friends, but it had been so long since he had comforted any one, since he hadn't trusted anyone enough to comfort them, that it just didn't feel comfortable, yet.

Matt looked up after a second, and nodded.

"I know, intellectually, that it wasn't my fault, that there was nothing that I could have done, but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad about it." Matt replied. "But hearing you say that, that relieves a huge burden."

"Good." Tai replied, and slapped Matt's back. "I wouldn't want you feeling guilty over something like that." Tai paused for a second, and then continued. "Speaking of guilt, I have something I need to tell you."

Tai took a deep breath, because honestly he'd been feeling nervous about this conversation almost from the moment he decided to have it with Matt. Matt for his part just arched an eyebrow at Tai.

"Yes?" He asked, and Tai took another deep breath.

"You remember that fight that you and Sora had?" Tai asked, and Matt grinned as he asked that.

"Which one?" He asked, almost with a laugh.

"The one while you were in America." Tai replied, and Matt nodded, just before his eyes widened. "Well you see, I was trying to cheer her up afterwards, and well things got a little…complicated…"

"And she kissed you." Matt stated rather than asked. Tai was surprised, because he assumed that Sora wouldn't have told Matt about that incident.

"Sora told you?" Tai asked, and Matt laughed again.

"Yea, it came out when she broke up with me." Matt replied, and Tai did a double take.

"What?" Tai almost yelled, and Matt's grinned disappeared.

"You didn't know?" He asked, and Tai nodded. "Kari didn't tell you?"

"No." Tai replied. "What happened?"

"Well a couple of weeks after you die…uh, disappeared, Sora said she needed to talk." Matt said, standing up and heading for the balcony attached to the hotel room. Tai followed him and as soon as they got outside Matt lit a cigarette.

"Since when do you smoke?" Tai asked his friend.

"Picked it up from my dad." Matt replied, looking out at the lights of Osaka as night fell around the city. "He recommended it to calm my nerves, and now I'm addicted."

Tai just nodded in response to Matt.

"So where was I? Oh yea, talking." Matt answered himself after a few seconds of calming his nerves. "Sora basically told me that she wanted to break it off, something I'd been expecting for a while."

"What? The two of you were great!" Tai exclaimed, almost unwillingly falling into the mindset he had forced upon himself for the entire time his best friends had been dating.

"Bullshit." Matt said, turning towards Tai. "The only reason we lasted as long as we did was because you kept putting us back together Tai. We didn't have the ability to stay together on our own. You were the only thing that kept us going. My only question is why?"

"What?" Tai asked and gave him a serious look.

"Why did you keep the two of us together when it obviously wasn't what you wanted Tai?" Matt asked more specifically.

In the past Tai probably would have tried to shrug the question off, but instead he just sighed.

"The two of you were happy." Tai replied.

"What?"

"The two of you were happy. You made Sora happy, and Sora made you happy." Tai replied. "That was enough for me. Anyways, Sora chose you over me, so me not keeping you together would have left me just the same."

Matt looked confused for a second. He remembered Tai mentioning that he'd asked Sora out, but Sora had never brought that fact up, even when they had talked about Tai. She'd always said that she regretted not giving him more time, not that she regretted not saying yes to him.

"How did you ask Sora out again?"

"What?" Tai asked, confused by his question. He had talked to Matt when Matt had first asked Sora out. He hadn't wanted to cause his friend to feel guilty or anything, so he'd told him what happened.

"How did you ask Sora out?" Mat said, more slowly.

"It was at your concert, the one you asked Sora out at." Tai started. "And I caught her as she was heading in to see you. I asked her if she was going to the concert with anyone, and she said she was waiting for you."

Matt had been taking a puff from his cigarette as Tai recounted his attempted asking out, and he seemed to choke on it as Tai said that.

"That's how you asked her out?" Matt almost shouted at Tai after he stopped coughing. Tai almost feel backwards as Matt shouted.

"Yea…" Tai said, a little scared of his reaction already.

Matt just shook his head. "Tai, you do know that Sora didn't realize you were asking her out right?"

"What?" Tai asked, confused now.

"You could have been a little less subtle, like actually asking her out." Matt replied, and Tai was even more confused.

"I thought I was pretty straightforward." Tai said finally.

"No Tai. You were about as straightforward as a preschooler asking a girl out." Matt replied, a grin on his face.

"Well what does this have to do with why you and Sora broke up anyways?" Tai asked, not wanting Matt to ridicule him more than he already had. Things really were starting to feel like old times.

"Easy." Matt replied. "She realized something she'd probably known the whole time we were dating. She wasn't in love with me, but she was in love, with you."

"Wha…what?" Tai asked, and Matt's grin got even bigger, then Tai's digivice started to beep, loudly.

Tai reacted on instinct, instantly holding his arm up. A map of the surrounding area instantly showed up, with a blinking red light up near Kyoto. Right where the very person that Tai and Matt had been discussing happened to be.

_And cut off again! Hopefully that was enjoyable for all of you, though I know it wasn't quite the same caliber as last chapter. Oh well, until next time!_

_Review Replies:_

_Dark Anbu Knight: I'm going to say Tai is, once things calm down. The fact that his parents aren't around (they're both workaholics that get sent on a lot of trips) though prevents it from coming out sooner. And thanks!_

_TaioraWarrior: Thanks! I can't say I invented them, I'm just bringing them out since I felt lost in a story I was reading, and figured things were far enough in for them to be appreciated. And of course you can. That's something you don't need to ask, as it's a concept, not something I thought of lol._

_Thanks! I actually liked writing the interaction between the two of them, it was refreshing to say the least. I felt that those were the things that Gabumon would focus on. He strikes me as a digimon that would focus on the good rather than the bad. I liked the grumbling lol. And the cigarettes, I addressed where they came from, but it's something I could see Matt doing, and Gabumon hating lol. And I didn't make up the name (it's from the Manga) but I changed exactly what it does. It's supposed to be a dimension that Piedmon has sole control over, and in my opinion making it a nightmare dimension was the most Piedmon like. Lol thanks, I felt last chapter was my best so far as well. And yea, that was an awesome review! So thanks!_

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Piedmon is supposed to be hated, so I guess that worked well for you lol. And that's exactly what Masks Square is supposed to do to a person._

_TheOmegaMan: Yep, thanks!_

_Edasama: Yea, I thought the punch to the face was completely appropriate for the two of them lol._

_Supershooter: Hey, some people show their affection with hugs, others with punches lol. And yea, I don't know if I'd call it cool, but it's certainly a nice thing for the story._

_Angelfish369: How did you like both? Lol and yea, those two are DNA digivolution partners after all, pretty close…_

_Agubiyofan: Thanks! And no worries!_


	13. Battle in Kyoto

_Well, time for another update. Sorry it's taken so long, school and other things have been taking up a lot of time. Well, here we go! _

_**Last Time:**__ After defeating Megidramon, Tai fell unconscious, prompting Matt to bring him back to the hotel he was staying at to recuperate. He and Agumon then went out to get some food for Agumon and Tsunomon. When they returned Tai was awake, and the two friends had a good talk about some of the issues still bothering the two of them from their past. Tai helped ease Matt guilt for not being at the battle where Tai had been sent to another r dimension, while Matt revealed that Tai's longtime friend (and one time crush) Sora loved him. Then in predictable fashion they were interrupted by another attack, this time in Kyoto._

_Disclaimer: So I don't own digimon, since this is posted on . I mean seriously, you think they would have figured this out by now!_

**Chapter 12 Battle in Kyoto**

Sora Takenouchi held her phone away from her ear as a squeal of static came from it, cutting off the person she had been talking to on the other line. All around her the other college students of Kyoto University also dropped their phones as similar squeals of static burst from them as well.

"What the hell?" Sora asked no one in particular as everyone tried to shut their phones up. Simply ending the conversation didn't seem to shut up the noise either. Sora ended up pulling the battery out of the phone, which finally fell silent.

All around her everyone else was doing the same. Mimi Tachikawa, her roommate and best friend, was looking around confused, until she noticed that her own phone was giving off the same noise, while it was in her purse.

Mimi quickly pulled her phone out and gave it the same exact treatment that Sora had given her phone, silencing the phone.

"What was that all about?" Mimi asked, mirroring the thoughts of both her friend and all of the people around them. Sora replied with a shrug.

"Probably something down in the science lab." Sora replied referring to the special lab contained inside Kyoto University.

The Lab was run by her father, and was the foremost research facility on the digital world, or at least it had been until Izzy petitioned and started another digital world lab at Tokyo University. The larger funds that Tokyo U could provide, not to mention Izzy's intimate knowledge of the digital world, had given the Tokyo lab a huge leg up over the Kyoto Lab, and it had quickly surpassed it as the preeminent place for digital world studies.

Despite that fact, there had been quite a few…incidents in the Lab's history and the students were fairly used to weird occurrences on their campus.

"You'd think they could take that Lab someplace other than a college campus, where normal people are trying to learn!" Mimi ranted as the two friends continued on their way now that the horrible screeching was gone.

"Mimi they probably will once Izzy graduates and can't get free money from Tokyo U anymore." Sora replied, attempting to calm her friend's rant. Mimi had grown up maybe the most of all the digidestined, but she could still go on huge rants about the (many) things that made her mad, and being her roommate and best friend meant that Sora was around 24/7 to hear all of them. So she'd become quite proficient at calming the brown haired girl and could almost always calm her down with just a few words.

Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those times.

"But Sora, that's still a year and a half away! And I'll only have a year left in school, so it will hardly matter!" Mimi continued, and Sora let out a sigh. As much as she loved Mimi, and enjoyed hanging out with her, there were times she wished the younger girl would complain a little less.

"Mimi, it'll be alright. This is the first time in a year anything like this has happened." Sora replied half-heartedly as the two finally arrived at the apartment they lived in. Thanks to Sora's father being a member of the faculty, Sora was able to get them a pretty good apartment, on campus no less, so they had arrived there in short order.

Palmon and Biyomon both jumped up from where they had been watching TV to face their partners. Both of the digimon had come to college with the girls for the first time ever this semester thanks to some insistence on Kari's part. Sora had planned on leaving Biyomon behind, just as Mimi had planned on leaving Palmon behind, so they could continue on with their lives in the digital world.

Most of the older Digidestined's digimon would spend most of their time in the digital world, with the exception of Gabumon who usually travelled with Matt, which normally wouldn't be a problem since they could use a digiport to travel between worlds whenever they needed. Unfortunately, due to several accidents in the Digital World Research Lab digiports were illegal within fifty kilometers of Kyoto, which meant that Biyomon and Palmon would have been stuck in the real world.

So the partners had been separated during the time Sora and Mimi had been at school, except for this semester. Kari had insisted that the two of them take their partners with them the day before they had left Tokyo.

_~Flashback_~

Sora was packing the last of her clothing away in the Kamiya's apartment, preparing to return to Kyoto University the next morning for the start of the spring semester. She walked over to the nightstand, on which stood a picture of two smiling teens.

One was recognizable as a younger Sora, while the other person was a tall, tanned boy about the same age with a massive amount of brown hair sticking up in nearly every direction. The two had their arms around each other and were smiling at the camera, and Sora remembered the day clearly.

It had been her last one playing on an actual soccer team, before changing over to tennis. Tai had said something about capturing the good old times that were about to end when she left soccer. This picture had been the result. Sora had kept it on her nightstand for a few years, until she started dating Matt, and a picture of the two of them had replaced it.

When she was moving into the Kamiya's after the Parallelmon attacks Sora had rediscovered the picture, and kept it with her ever since.

Now she picked it up as the last thing to pack into her suitcase, placing it carefully atop the clothes within, and then headed out into the living room of the apartment. Kari was sitting between Gatomon and Biyomon, Davis and T.K. conspicuously absent for once.

"What, no boys today?" Sora asked with a smile, and Kari just shrugged.

"No, I told them today was a girl's day." Kari replied, and Sora smiled. Of course Kari would want to spend their last day with just the two of them.

"Yea! It'll be great!" Biyomon added from Kari's side.

_Well, the four of us._ Sora thought with a smile as she nodded in agreement with her partner.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sora asked causing the two digimon to jump out of their seats, Kari however stayed sitting.

"Sora, there's something I want to talk to you about first." Kari said, and Sora sat down next to the younger girl.

"Sure, what's up Kari?" Sora asked, curious as to what could be bothering her. She wondered if it had anything to do with what had happened yesterday. Davis and T.K. had been here, sleeping most likely from the late night they had, but then the three younger digidestined had left for nearly the entire day, which was odd.

They usually used the Kamiya's apartment as their primary hang out place since it was both centrally located and almost always free of adults, but yesterday they hadn't. Sora had the place almost completely to herself, which was almost sad since she'd been looking forward to hanging out with the three younger kids. Kari had seemed both very happy and fairly sad when she'd returned the night before, but wouldn't tell Sora anything.

She figured it probably had something to do with T.K., and hoped whatever it was turned out to be more happy than sad for the younger girl.

"I think you should take Biyomon with you when you go back to college, and have Mimi bring Palmon." Kari replied after just a few seconds.

"What?" Sora asked, surprised. She never brought her partner to school because then Biyomon would be cut off from all of her duties and friends in the digital world thanks to the digiport ban.

"Well, with all of these attacks, it might not be safe for you without Biyomon." Kari replied to Sora question, and now Sora was intrigued. There had been only one attack, and that had been stopped by Tai, not any of them.

Just thinking about that reminded her of the conversation she'd had with Agumon, and the hope that one day she would get to see her old friend once more.

_I still don't really understand what Agumon was hinting at or about the other night, but I know what I have to do, for myself, when I see Tai._ Sora thought to herself, getting butterflies in her stomach as contemplated what she planned to do.

"There was only one attack Kari," Sora started to say, and the look on Kari's face caused Sora to stop her sentence. "There was only one attack, wasn't there Kari?"

"Uh, not exactly…" The younger girl replied, looking nervously down at her feet. "Me, T.K., and Davis got attacked on our way back from the movies."

"Why didn't you tell me about this!" Sora almost shouted and stood up from where she'd been sitting.

"I didn't want you getting worried or anything, we handled it just fine." Kari replied, losing a bit of her timidity as Sora started yelling at her. Sora had rubbed off a lot on the younger girl, and she would stand up for herself when she needed to. "You didn't even hear about it on the news, so we obviously did something right."

"Yea I guess you're right." Sora replied after a few seconds. "But you still should have told me about it."

"I know, I guess it just slipped my mind." Kari replied, looking down again, which Sora wasn't entirely certain was because she was nervous, at least not about that. It was almost like she was hiding something. "But now you know why you should take Biyomon back with you."

"Yea, but I'll have to check with Biyomon…" Sora replied, only to have Biyomon jump in.

"I don't mind Sora. I've wanted to visit you at college for the longest time!" The pink bird exclaimed happily, and that settled it.

_~End Flashback~_

"Miss us?" Sora asked and both digimon nodded as they ran up to their partners, until Mimi continued complaining again.

"Well, you at least Sora." Biyomon said, and Palmon nodded.

"Hey! I'm angry, not deaf!" Mimi exclaimed, earning a laugh from all three of the other occupants of the room.

"That's why I was joking." Biyomon replied with her wings folded onto her hips, mirroring a stance that Sora would always take.

A little bickering later and the two digimon were back in front of the television as the two college students pulled out their homework at the kitchen table. They preferred to get all of the work they needed for their classes out of the way early in the day, freeing up their nights for more pleasurable activities.

Sora pulled out her laptop to do some of the online assignments one of her classes had, only just as the computer finished booting up, it suddenly cut off. At the same moment the television in the other room stopped making noise, as if someone had turned it off.

"Hey!" Biyomon and Palmon shouted in unison as the TV seemed to die.

Mimi looked towards the two of them, confused as she hadn't pulled out an electronic device of her own. Then the lights died, and you could hear the growl that emanated from Mimi's throat.

"I'm going to kill every one of those diginerds…" Mimi started muttering, blaming the loss of power on the lab below the university. Sora was assuming the same thing, at least until she started to hear screams from outside.

"Mimi, I don't think it's from the lab!" Sora exclaimed, heading for the door. It seemed like Kari had been completely correct.

"What do you mean Sora?" Mimi asked, just before the room started to shake, as if there was some sort of earthquake going on.

All four occupants of the room grabbed onto something as the shaking increased, throwing them to the floor in the case of the digimon. Then the explosions started.

"That's what I mean!" Sora shouted as the shaking finally stopped, though the explosions and screaming that accompanied it didn't. "We have to get out there!"

Mimi didn't need any convincing to get out of the apartment, so the two rushed out, followed quickly by their partners. Unfortunately everyone else in the building seemed to have the same idea as them, and getting out turned out to be a much longer process than normal, as the hallways and stairwells were clogged with people.

Ten minutes later the two digidestined exited the building and found a campus covered in people attempting to get away from the scenes of destruction that were coming from the campus's sports fields.

"This way!" Sora exclaimed moving towards the sports fields, rather away from them like everyone else on campus was attempting.

"Sora, are you crazy? We need to get away from here!" Mimi yelled back at Sora, attempting to stop the auburn haired girl from running towards the battle. "SORA!"

"Mimi, we have to go! We're the only ones here!" Sora replied, stubbornly starting to pull Mimi towards the explosions.

"That doesn't mean anything Sora. The police or someone else can take care of it!" Mimi replied as Sora continued to drag her away.

"NO they can't, only we can!" Sora yelled back.

"Sora! Stop channeling Tai and come away from the danger!" Mimi exclaimed, and that actually caused Sora to stop pulling Mimi away. Then she stared to laugh, causing Mimi to become even more confused.

"I guess I am doing that a bit aren't I?" Sora asked, almost to herself, and then turned back to Mimi. "Mimi, we have to go, because that's got to be a digimon attack. We're the only ones who can stop it!"

That seemed to finally cause Mimi to pause and consider what was going on.

"You're not going to let me just run away with everyone else, are you?" Mimi asked, and Sora shook her head. "Fine, let's go get this thing!"

The two girls started back towards the sports fields, but quickly encountered a problem. The large group of running students prevented them from moving very quickly at all, and it seemed endless at this point, especially since more people were pouring out of the buildings.

"We're never going to get through this crowd." Sora groaned as the crowd continued to push in around them.

"Let us handle that!" Biyomon called from where she was hovering above them. Sora and Mimi's digivices started to glow, releasing blasts of light that engulfed both digimon.

"Biyomon digivolve to!" Biyomon grew in size into a large red bird digimon, who spread her wings wide on either side of her. "Birdramon!"

"Palmon digivolve to!" Palmon grew from her small plant like form into a massive walking cactus with a pair of boxing gloves covering her hands. "Togemon!"

At the appearance of the two large digimon the entire crowd scattered, not recognizing the two as friends, and opening a path for the two girls and their digimon. The four wasted no time, with the two girls and Togemon running forward and Birdramon flying ahead.

Within minutes they were rushing into the large soccer stadium that was the main part of the sports complex, only to come face to face with a large digimon. It looked like some sort of over grown bear, with a multi-barreled gun attached to its right wrist.

It didn't take notice of the two digidestined as it aimed right into the surrounding stadium with its gun.

"Rodeo Bullet!" Three bullets spat from its gun right into the stands, deleting everything they passed, often without even touching them.

Sora hadn't seen a digimon use such power in the real world to destroy parts of it since VenomMyotismon. Even Parallelmon hadn't so effortlessly destroyed its surroundings (well at least when Sora had seen what it was doing, since it had been a bit preoccupied by the digidestined's digimon).

When the bullets finally hit something they caused a massive explosion that ripped up even more of the stadium, and had the girls grabbing onto something so they would not to be blown away.

"Birdramon! Stop him!"

"You to Togemon!"

The two girls shouted to their partners, who immediately dived into the attack.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon gathered her wings together before releasing a blast of fireballs from them, which hit the digimon and the ground surrounding it.

"How about a little Needle Spray!" Togemon started spinning and sent dozens of sharp needles right into the middle of the firestorm created by Birdramon.

"Alright!" Mimi cheered as the digimon went under the combined attacks.

"Deep Forest!" A shout rang out from the center of the two attacks, and the entire earth shook as if it was trying to throw everyone off of it. Togemon and the two girls were thrown off of their feet, though Birdramon was unaffected.

"Sora!" She called out, swinging around to check on her partner.

"Rodeo Bullet!" Birdramon was hit as she swooped down low over the stadium, and crashed almost immediately as she was blown from the sky.

Sora could hardly see anything as she attempted to recover from being attacked with an earthquake, but she did manage to see Birdramon go down and dedigivolve back into Biyomon.

"Biyomon!" Sora cried out, reaching towards her fallen partner, only to have a large, and hairy leg land in front of her.

"And where do you think you're going, digidestined?" A voice that came from the top of the leg asked, and Sora looked up into the face of the large digimon that had attacked the University, just as it brought its right arm around and pointed its gun at her.

~Earlier that Day~

Kari Kamiya closed her phone angrily as once again her call failed to go through. She'd been trying to get a hold of Sora for nearly the entire time that she, T.K., Davis, and Izzy had been stopped at the gas station a few dozen Kilometers away from Kyoto, and so far hadn't been able to get a single call through.

Kari let out an exasperated sigh, drawing the attention of both Gatomon and T.K.

"No luck I take it?" T.K. asked, and Kari just nodded.

"I'm sure that she just left her phone off Kari." T.K. tried to reassure his girlfriend, but she just shrugged, not looking very convinced at his words.

"I don't know T.K., this seems too suspicious to me." Kari replied, and T.K. nodded, knowing she was referring to the battle Davis, Izzy, and Joe had earlier with one of Demon Lord's, a group of powerful mega level digimon that Tai swore were here to destroy the digidestined, advanced scouts.

"Well, why don't we go and see if Patamon and Tentomon are ready to get us the rest of the way to Kyoto then." T.K. offered, extending a hand to Kari, who was still leaning against the side of the building. She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet, then the two of them set out to find their friends and their digimon.

They heard them before they actually saw them, and it seemed like there was an argument underway.

"Why can't I have any of the food?" Veemon's voice asked as they got closer to where they had left them.

"I told you Veemon, Patamon and Tentomon are the ones flying us to Kyoto, so they need the food to keep up their energy." Izzy's voice replied, and the group finally came into sight.

Tentomon and Patamon were busy stuffing their faces with the food that Davis and Izzy had purchased, while Veemon was staring at them with longing eyes, Izzy between him and any of the food.

"Ah, come on Izzy, Veemon will have to do most of the fighting whenever we get there, let him have some food!" Davis exclaimed, siding with his partner.

"Yea!" Veemon added for emphasis.

"Izzy, there's plenty of food…" Tentomon said, pausing for a second in his frantic devouring of the gathered food.

Izzy looked between his partner and Davis and Veemon before nodding.

"Ok, I guess all of the digimon should be keeping their strength up." Izzy shrugged before he jumped out of the way of the charging Veemon.

"Why don't we have enough food for everyone again?" T.K. asked as he and Kari joined Davis and Izzy.

"Well someone," Izzy started, before shooting a not so subtle glance at Davis, "Didn't think that we'd need money on this trip, so he didn't bring any to buy food."

"Hey! It's not like I had this planned when I left home this morning!" Davis called back at Izzy, earning a laugh from T.K. and Kari. Izzy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like damn teenagers, and entered into the gas station, leaving the three younger kids on their own outside.

"So, any luck getting a hold of Sora?" Davis asked which caused Kari to clench a fist.

"No! The damn phone still won't go through." Kari nearly shouted, startling both of the boys, and the digimon.

"Geez, sorry for asking." Davis said, taking a step back, but Kari held up her hands.

"Sorry Davis, I didn't mean to snap like that." Kari apologized, and Davis stopped stepping back, nodding to her.

"I understand Kari, you're worried about Sora and Mimi, we all are." Davis told her in his much calmer and serious voice, and Kari nodded, seemingly calmed down, at least until Izzy came running out of the gas station.

"We need to go now!" He shouted running forward.

"What?"

"Why?"

"What's happening?"

The three digidestined all tried to ask Izzy the same thing at the same moment, but he silenced them all, holding up a hand.

"Apparently Kyoto University is having some sort of technical difficulties, and there have been earthquakes recorded there." Izzy said, quickly summarizing what the news report had told him. "I don't think it's just an earthquake though…"

"You're probably right Izzy!" Kari said, jumping up instantly.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Davis asked, turning towards the digimon.

Tentomon jumped forward as Izzy's digivice glowed, and digivolved right into Kabuterimon, while T.K. activated the digiegg of Hope, allowing Patamon to become Pegasusmon.

The four digidestined and the two digimon jumped unto the backs of the waiting digimon while most of the people around the gas station just stared at the sight. Before anyone could say or do anything the two digimon had taken off into the sky, leaving the gas station behind.

They made quick time as they closed in on Kyoto, and more importantly Kyoto University. Kabuterimon was outrunning Pegasusmon, so Izzy and Davis were the first to spot the rather large digimon near what looked like a power station at the University.

"Hey Izzy, you see that?" Davis shouted over the wind towards Izzy. He had his goggles down over his eyes, preventing his eyes from watering due to the high winds. Izzy unfortunately didn't have a set of really cool goggles (according to Davis's mind) to do the same, so he had a tougher time seeing at these speeds.

"What? Where?" Izzy shouted back, and Davis tried to point him out to the older boy, with little luck. Kabuterimon however could see just as well as Davis, and held up, waiting for Pegasusmon to catch up. This allowed Izzy a little time to clear his eyes, and see what Davis was seeing.

"Why'd you stop?" Kari asked as Pegasusmon drew even with Kabuterimon.

"Look! A digimon!" Davis exclaimed, pointing down to the digimon that was busy introducing itself to the Universities power grid.

"I see it, but no Sora, or Mimi…" Kari trailed off, and Davis knew what she was thinking. Kari wanted to find the other digidestined first, not go after some digimon.

"You two go find Mimi and Sora, me and Izzy will take care of this guy!" Davis said, gesturing towards the digimon for emphasis.

Kari smiled at Davis and nodded.

"Thanks Davis! Good luck!" Kari shouted as Pegasusmon continued on. Kari watched as Kabuterimon dived towards the digimon, and did her best not to be concerned. All of her friends were starting to go back to being in danger, and she didn't like it one bit. At least Davis and Izzy had Magnamon to look after them. She couldn't say the same for Sora since she was sure Biyomon wouldn't be able to warp digivolve without a jump start from Davis's Crest.

She and T.K. would just have to suffice until Davis could join them, that is, if Sora and Mimi were in any danger.

"T.K.! Look!" Pegasusmon called out, gesturing with his head. Kari and T.K. followed his line of sight, just in time to see Birdramon shot out of the sky.

"T.K.! They're in trouble!" Kari shouted out, obviously, but Pegasusmon was a step ahead of the humans, turning and heading right for the danger area.

~Earlier That Day~

"D.N.A. FULL CHARGE!" Tai Kamiya shouted as he slid his hand past the D.N.A. scanner on his digivice.

"Agumon warp digivolve to! BurningGreymon!" Agumon hit his ultimate level form after just a few seconds, and Tai was already climbing onto his back before Matt even realized what was going on.

Tai had run out of Matt's hotel room in the middle of their conversation, yelling something about an attack in Kyoto, and then running into the street.

"Woah…" Matt said in response to the way Tai had digivolved Agumon. It was completely unlike anything he had ever seen. The digidestined had always just let digivolution happen, occasionally sparking it by saying it was time to digivolve, but nothing like this.

"Matt, would you hurry up? We have to get to Kyoto!" Tai shouted from where he was on the back of BurningGreymon.

Matt was still too stunned to really know what he was doing, but instinct had him pulling his digivice out of his pocket, turning towards Tsunomon.

"No! Just get on BurningGreymon's back, we'll get there faster!" Tai shouted, interrupting Matt. Matt climbed onto the large dragon like digimon's back, followed by Tsunomon. "Alright, let's go BurningGreymon!"

With that BurningGreymon took off into the air, and after a little bit more direction giving by Tai, was headed off towards Kyoto.

_I can't believe I allowed this to blind side me…_ Tai thought to himself as the headed for Kyoto.

He'd come to this part of Japan in order to protect Matt and the two girls at Kyoto university. He'd already protected Matt, but had let being reunited with one of his best friends, and the conversation they'd had during that reunion, to distract him.

_I should have stayed alert, and not gotten distracted by this…_ Tai thought to himself, which led to another thought.

_That's right. That's all friends do for you, distract you, and make things worse for everyone! _A rather rude voice, one Tai had considered both his conscious and his tormentor in dealing with people he cared about, said in his head.

Before Tai could continue his train of thought he felt a hand on his shoulder, and Tai turned around to see Matt.

"Tai, you need to relax a bit." The blond shouted over the noise that the high wind of flight was creating. "We'll get there in time, and then take care of whatever is attacking them."

Those few words actually seemed to shut the voice up, rather quickly at that, and Tai felt relief at those simple words. He'd forgotten what it felt like to have friends that actually cared, mostly because he hadn't let anyone get close to him in a long time.

"Thanks Matt." Tai replied, nodding as well.

"Hey, no problem. What are friends for?" He asked with a laugh, unknowingly putting another nail into the voice in Tai's mind. Tai just turned back towards the front, watching their progress, which was seemingly to slow.

"We need to go faster…" Tai said, mostly to himself, but Matt heard him.

"Well, Gabumon could digivolve, but I don't think MetalGarurumon is that much faster…" Matt replied, thinking that Tai was talking to him, or at least looking for input. He stopped as Tai pulled out a green and blue card from his jacket. "What's that?"

"Watch and learn Matt." Tai replied, a smirk on his face though Matt couldn't see it.

"Digi-Modify! Hyper Speed Activate!" Tai shouted as he swiped the card through the card swiping slot on his digivice. "Better hold on Matt!" Tai shouted, bending over to get a better grip on BurningGreymon.

"What?" Matt asked just before BurningGreymon shot forward, many times faster than he had been traveling before. Matt almost flew off the digimon, not understanding Tai, but luckily his big haired friend had grabbed a hold of him to prevent that.

"HOLD ON!" Tai shouted into his ear, which Matt was only too happy to oblige with doing.

After making sure Matt was secure Tai had about a minute of time on his own, and his thought were drawn to their destination, and who awaited him there.

His oldest friend, and the first girl he had ever loved, awaited him, and he was sure he wouldn't be able to run away from her like the last time he had seen her. He had saved her and a large group of the digidestined that day, and she'd realized who he was at the time. He'd run away from her that day, unprepared to see any of his old friends, let alone the one who meant the most to him (after his sister that is) and who had hurt him the most.

His emotions were if anything in more turmoil now than they were that day. His earlier conversation had yielded some information he'd longed to hear before his dimension travelling had started, but which scared him now that he actually heard it.

According to Matt, Sora actually loved him, and right now that scared Tai more than the thought of facing any evil digimon the Demon Lords cared to send against him. The last person who had told Tai that she loved him had betrayed him and an entire world, and almost caused Tai to destroy Agumon by digivolving him too soon. That and the fact that Sora didn't exactly have the best track record with his emotions, a certain incident the day that Parallelmon appeared came to Tai's mind, didn't help things either.

_What am I going to do…_ Tai thought to himself as they raced along.

Sure, Matt told him that Sora actually loved him, or at least had three years ago she had, but did she really? Tai wouldn't really know until he arrived in Kyoto, and stopped the attacks there.

_But you can't deny it, you're looking forward to seeing her again. _Tai thought to himself, and he almost nodded in response to his own thoughts.

It had started when he made his mission to get back home, after the battle at Lost Ford. He'd started pulling out the picture of all of the digidestined that he carried with him, and once more missing all of them. Almost against his will he'd started to feel his old feelings for Sora return, despite everything that had happened, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.

Before Tai could really get his thoughts together, or at least a little less contradictory, BurningGreymon flared his wings, halting their forward speed. They were directly over Kyoto University now, and Tai pulled his stiff arm up to scan for a digimon's signal. That action proved to be rather useless as he caught several explosions out of the corner of his eye.

"There BurningGreymon!" Tai shouted, directing his partner's attention.

"Right! Here we go!" BurningGreymon replied, diving down towards the soccer stadium. As they dove Tai could make out the combatants.

Angewomon, Pegasusmon, and Togemon all sent multiple attacks at a rather large, bear like digimon that Tai didn't recognize, all of which had almost no effect on the digimon. Their three partners were standing a little ways back, cheering them on, while Sora was a little ways away, helping an injured looking Biyomon. The data on the digimon only took a few seconds to come up on Tai's digivice.

"Callismon, Mega level, Synthetic Beast digimon. His attacks are Deep Forest and Rodeo Bullet." Tai said out loud for BurningGreymon's benefit.

"Well, I guess that's our cue!" Matt called out from behind Tai, just as a bright flash of light came from the same place.

"Tsunomon digivolve to! Gabumon! Gabumon warp digivolve to! MetalGarurumon!" All of a sudden BurningGreymon wasn't flying alone, and Matt was on his partner's back. The two digimon, with their partners dove right into the battle, surprising every one of the combatants,

"Ice Wolf Claw!" Dozens of missiles flew out from MetalGarurumon hitting around and on Callismon, partially freezing him.

"Argh!" He shouted as he could no longer move.

"It's Matt!" Mimi shouted as both MetalGarurumon and BurningGreymon landed to drop their partners off. Matt ran over to the other digidestined, but Tai stayed with the digimon.

"Digi-Modify! Power Boost Activate!" Tai shouted swiping another card through his digivice as Callismon broke through MetalGarurumon's attack.

"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon attacked before Callismon could break all the way through, sending dozens of solar energy blasts right at the digimon. He was knocked the rest of the way out of his icy prison, but sent flying across the stadium.

"Tai!" Kari shouted, being the first one to recognize him. That shout was more than enough to attract everyone's attention to Tai.

"It is Tai!" Mimi shouted, happy as nearly everyone else had been the first time they'd seen Tai.

"Rodeo Bullets!" Before anyone could really do anything else Callismon jumped back into the battle, firing at BurningGreymon, who quickly avoided the attack.

"You're going to have to be faster than that, ugly!" BurningGreymon taunted at Callismon.

"How's this!" The large digimon replied, just before jumping into the air and hitting BurningGreymon with a rather hard punch, sending him flying towards the ground.

"Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon launched a powerful missile right at Callismon. Callismon however simply redirected the missile away from himself, and into the soccer stadium.

"Celestial Arrow!" He couldn't avoid Angewomon's attack however, though it didn't have much of an effect on the Mega level digimon.

Callismon jumped at Angewomon, ignoring MetalGarurumon, bringing a fist back to hit her in the air, only to stop in midflight.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to hit ladies?" BurningGreymon asked from where he had grabbed ahold of Callismon's leg. He spun the digimon around, before slamming him down into the ground.

"Alright!" T.K. shouted as Callismon went down again.

"I wouldn't cheer just yet if I were you T.K." Tai stated calmly as the smoke from Callismon's impact moved away, revealing an uninjured Callismon.

"What's it going to take to knock this guy out?" Matt asked as all four of the digimon jumped back into the attack.

"I think a new attack, or maybe two." Tai replied, reaching into his jacket, quickly pulling out a card. "This should work."

"Digi-Modify! Gallantmon's Spear and Shield Activate!" Tai slashed the card, and much to the amazement of Mimi, Sora, and Matt a large spear appeared covering BurningGreymon's right arm, while a large shield covered his left arm.

"Rodeo Bullet!" Callismon attacked all of the digimon attacking him before BurningGreymon could attack him, but was surprised when all of them were stopped short of their targets. BurningGreymon had stopped them with the shield now on his arm.

"My turn!" BurningGreymon shouted at Callismon, bringing the tip of the spear around to point at him. "Lightning Joust!" A blast of blue electric energy burst from the spear and hit Callismon right in the chest, causing a huge explosion.

"Finish it!" Tai shouted over the loud explosion, and BurningGreymon brought the shield around now.

"Shield of the Just!" He shouted this time, the shield glowing brightly as the symbol in the center glowed red. Around the central symbol several triangles started to glow around the central symbol, almost like something was powering up.

"Better get down!" Tai shouted back to all the digidestined, who didn't need to be told twice as he ran towards them.

A massive red beam shot out from the shield and hit where Callismon had been, making an even larger explosion. Tai turned back as BurningGreymon waited for the smoke to clear. Callismon was still partially there, but was steadily dissolving as he came into view.

BurningGreymon dedigivolved into Agumon, and Tai turned back to the digidestined, who were all getting up.

_One battle down._ Tai thought to himself, _But why do I feel that what's coming next is going to be even tougher?_

~Chapter End~

_So, I'm sure there are plenty of you who were hoping for the meeting with Sora to actually happen, and well, you'll have to wait at least until the next update…Until then!_

_**Review Replies!**_

_TheOmegaMan: HAhaha, I know right. Of course, I'm sure most people don't look at others reviews and judge them. That would be a little odd lol. And thanks a bunch!_

_my daydream world: yea, I'm the same way, though my sister always thought the same thing, so I didn't have the same problem. And thanks! Agumon can be a very fun digimon to write as well. And Your welcome! Thanks for taking the time to read and review!_

_Edasama: yea, it does seem to be a good way for them to help each other out, one that 02 actually told us was there. And yea, I mean that's almost how it went. Tai's meant to be a bit more reserved in this story, thanks to what's happened to him, and Matt responded by acting like him. That would be weird/awesome to actually see lol. And I'm glad it was a good break for you!_

_HikariNoTenshi-San : you'd be surprised I think. And Tai is dense, but I can't blame him for being shy in this case. He was going to ask his best friend out, and I know from experience that doing that isn't the easiest thing in the world, and can put a lot of strain into the friendship if the friend doesn't feel the same way. Tai was trying to ask her out, and avoid the uncomfortableness that would come if she said no. And Matt is having tons of fun, after his guilt is washed out at least lol._

_Agubiyofan: Thanks! And exactly this! Lol_

_LyraXEthan: Thanks! And I did too, it was fun to write._

_Supershooter: Thanks! Sorry your internet was down, I know how much that sucks, and yea, I wanted to do that rather than just moving on after the chapter before this one. And yea, some trust. I wouldn't count on bunchs of it, especially after what's going to happen next chapter…(cue ominous music…) and thanks! Will do!_

_TaioraWarrior: Hopefully, but don't get high expectations yet. Things can never be easy for Tai and Sora… and I thought you would like my use of Matt there, turning him to the exact opposite use those people at Toei used him with…lol. And or later, that too…I have too many stories on my plate right now…_

_DephsXylex:That would have been just too cruel to poor little Tsunomon, though still funny lol. And yea. That's my current theory as to why it (rejection/ evilSoratoevil) happened, teenagers are dense. And yes Sora is next…chapter lol. I know I'm probably evil for doing that lol._


	14. Gathering

_Well, here we are everyone, the chapter that everyone's been waiting for…without further ramblings from me, I give you, Joe, Ken, Yolei, and Cody's adventure in Tokyo!_

_Wait. What? That's not what you wanted to read about? Uh…GOOD! You've come to the right place if you were looking for the meeting between Tai and Sora to (finally) happen._

_Disclaimer: I do not own digimon. However, I do own the Oreo I'm currently eating, so I'm content._

**Chapter 13 Gathering**

Tai Kamiya turned towards the gathered digidestined behind him as Agumon walked away from where Callismon was still dispersing. The faces that greeted him all looked a little shocked, but that shock quickly turned to smiles on all of their faces.

"Tai!" Kari was the first one to run forward, and Tai had enough practice over the last week to not tense up as she ran over to him. She quickly embraced him in a huge hug. The others were a little more reserved in their responses, but that was only in appearance.

The grins on every one of their faces easily gave away their own excitement. Even Matt, who'd arrived with Tai, couldn't help but smile now that the battle was over.

"Magna Blast!"

Explosions followed seconds later by a giant crash announced that the battle wasn't really over. A large digimon crashed through the side of the stadium, followed seconds later by Magnamon and MegaKabuterimon.

The digidestined in the stadium, who'd just gotten over to where Tai was standing, turned towards the noise as a large section of the stadium was destroyed.

"Agumon!" Tai called out as he was released from his sister's hug, moving between the gathered digidestined and the arriving digimon, followed a second later by his partner.

"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon added his attack to the still recovering digimon, which was tossed across the stadium.

"YEA! Get him Magnamon!" Davis shouted as he and Izzy climbed over the wreckage into the stadium. The digidestined all spared a glance in his direction, before Mimi cupped her hands to shout at Davis.

"Hey Davis, how about you try and not wreck the stadium!" Mimi shouted out sarcastically to the younger digidestined, who seemed surprised to see the others in the soccer stadium, to say the least.

"Uh…" Davis started to reply, but was interrupted by the digimon first.

"Soul Predator!" The digimon revealed an energy scythe that it was carrying, which it swept through the air, unleashing waves of energy at MegaKabuterimon.

"MetalPhantomon, an Ultimate level, cyborg digimon, capable of trapping his enemies in their own nightmares. His attacks are Grave Scream and Soul Predator." Tai said as he read the information off of his digivice.

"Sorry Mimi, we're a little busy!" Davis finally got his response in to Mimi's question. "Magnamon, finish him off!"

"Right Davis!" Magnamon responded before flying right at MetalPhantomon.

"Soul Predator!" The large cloaked digimon attempted to hit Magnamon, but the armored digimon was able to avoid the blasts of energy. As he got to MetalPhantomon , the cyborg digimon attempted to physically hit him with his scythe, but Magnamon seemingly disappeared before he could be hit.

"What…" MetalPhantomon asked as he looked for his opponent.

"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon found him first, sending MetalPhantomon flying back into another part of the stadium.

The digidestined in the stadium watched all of this while not moving an inch, except for Matt. He walked over to where Tai was standing in between the digidestined and MetalPhantomon.

"Aren't you going to do something?" He asked, and Tai shook his head, and actually smiled a bit.

"No, Davis and Izzy can take care of this on their own. Anyways, I can't be everywhere when you guys get into trouble. I need to see if you can still manage on your own." Tai replied to Matt inquiry.

"Hey! We can take care of ourselves!" Matt replied indignantly to Tai, who simply turned and raised an eyebrow at him, in a very un-Tai way.

"Magnum Punch!" Matt and Tai looked back to see MetalPhantomon crash into the last intact portion of the stands, and Magnamon fly up above him.

"Magna Blast!" Magnamon sent dozens of blasts of plasma into MetalPhantomon, which let out a machine like squeal, before it too started to dissolve. Seconds later Magnamon and MegaKabuterimon dedigivolved, into DemiVeemon and Motimon respectively, and landed in their partners arms.

"See." Matt said to Tai who just shrugged at the blond musician.

"We should get out of here before someone decides to check out the soccer stadium, and wonder what wrecked it." Tai said to the group, ignoring Matt's comment, again, not a usual characteristic for him.

"We can go back to our apartment!" Sora exclaimed quickly, speaking for the first time since Tai had arrived. She looked at Tai as she said this, and he met her eyes for a second before turning quickly away.

"But Sora, the powers out!" Mimi exclaimed as everyone seemed to nod at the idea.

"Not anymore. MetalPhantomon was doing something to the power grid when we found him. The power should be back now." Izzy informed the group as he and Davis finally joined them.

"Oh, that's good." Mimi answered, suddenly much more quiet than she had been before.

"Well let's get going. The faster we're out of the open, the better." Tai added to the group, moving them forward.

Sora led the way back to the apartment, followed by T.K., Kari, and Davis. Matt and Izzy walked with Mimi, while Tai brought up the rear.

~Mimi and Sora's apartment~

The group had split up upon arriving at the apartment. Matt and Izzy were helping Mimi feed the digimon and Davis, while T.K. and Kari watched them. Tai had separated himself into the office room that Mimi and Sora had, saying he had to check on something.

He had his digivice out, and looking over a large holographic map that was being displayed by the digivice. It showed the entirety of Japan, displaying a number of blinking green dots, most of which were located in Kyoto currently.

_Well at least I don't really have to worry about trying to rush across the country right now…_ Tai thought to himself as he made sure he had a firm handle on the situation with the digidestined. _Now all I have to do is figure out where the advanced party is hiding out._

There was a knock on the door as Tai finished that thought, and it opened to reveal Sora, holding a plate with some snacks on it.

_Oh boy…_ Tai thought to himself as Sora entered and closed the door behind her. This is where things started to get confusing for Tai.

On one hand he was overjoyed to see his childhood best friend and crush, for any reason. It had been three years since he'd seen or talked to her, and that was far too long a time to not see someone who had been as important in his life as Sora had been. Not seeing her had almost been like he'd left part of himself behind when he'd been trapped in another dimension.

Then there was the other side of the coin, the part that wasn't overjoyed to see her and, if Tai was being honest with himself, was scared to see her. The part of him that remembered the long days of Sora being seemingly oblivious to his feelings, until the day she decided to try and take advantage of them. Having that as the last memory of her didn't really do much to help Tai's confused feelings.

Then of course was the biggest complication, the one that Sora never could have done anything about, and yet it couldn't help but color the way he felt. Jane, the one woman he'd ever meet who'd ever made him to feel the same way that Sora made him feel, and the person who'd made it difficult for him to trust anyone ever again.

No matter how hard he tried to forget what had happened, or at least let it not affect him, Tai always ended up letting it. This conversation would hardly be an exception.

"I thought you could use some food." Sora said with a small smile, holding out the plate.

Tai couldn't help but return the smile and nod in thanks as she put the plate down on the table.

"What are you looking at?" Sora asked as she moved around the table.

For Sora things were very different. The defining moment of her life over the last three years hadn't been a betrayal that had scared her, but rather losing someone who she realized she cared about more than anyone else in the world. She'd spent a good portion of the last three years regretting that it had taken her losing Tai to realize exactly how much he meant to her, and now she actually had a second chance, one she wasn't going to let slip away.

Unfortunately for her, the one person who knew enough about Tai's state of mind to tell Sora to take it slow happened to have been preoccupied trying to get all of the digimon fed to notice Sora taking off with her own plate of food. If Matt had noticed Sora doing that, he might have offered her a bit of advice, or at least cautioned her to be careful, having glimpsed a little of the fragile state that Tai was in, despite all appearances to the contrary.

"It's a map of Japan." Tai replied, angling the digivice so that she could see the map. "It has the locations of all the digidestined marked down so that I can keep tabs on you guys."

Sora came around the desk, placing a hand on Tai's shoulder as she looked at the display. Tai was completely surprised by the warm feeling that spread from his shoulder from where Sora placed her hand.

He hadn't felt something like that in nearly a year, not since Jane….

Tai couldn't help but look at Sora as she studied the map, and after a second she looked up at him, meeting his eyes. This time, unlike earlier, he didn't immediately turn away, but kept looking into her eyes instead.

Sora had long seen the look that was now in Tai's eyes, it was the same one that had been there every time the two of them made eye contact in the past. Sora had never really understood what it was, until the day that Tai had told her that he loved her.

It only took Sora an instant to decide what she was going to do with the moment, and then she'd pressed her lips against Tai's. It took him a second, but Tai started to kiss her back, and Sora felt her heart beat faster as he did so.

Tai's heart was also racing. He'd so far discovered that every one of his encounters with his friends had been easier than he had expected, including the one that he had expected to be the hardest. Everything just seemed to be coming back to him even easier than it had before.

Then all of the memories came pouring back into his mind, flashing by almost too fast to really be recognizable, except of course for the fact that Tai knew each and every one of them to well not to recognize them, his time with and betrayal by Jane.

Tai instantly froze in the middle of the kiss, becoming stiff as a board, and throwing himself back from Sora. The roller chair that Tai had been sitting in came to a stop on the far wall away from Sora, who looked completely confused.

For a good reason. Things had been going perfect for her. Tai seemed to be responding to her, and she could finally admit her feelings to him, until this had happened. Now he was on the far side of the room clutching his head between his legs.

"Tai?" Sora asked tentatively, taking a step towards the big haired brunette. It certainly didn't earn her the reaction she'd hoped for. He looked up at her, and Sora was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"Tai?" Sora asked again, taking another step forward, which resulted in Tai trying to push the chair farther back, but only hitting the wall. Sora stopped moving forward as she met Tai's eyes. The look of pain and loss in them stopped her more than his attempts to get away.

_What could have caused that? Was it me?_ Sora wondered to herself before Tai spoke in a rough voice.

"Sora, get out." He said, causing Sora to look even more confused.

"Wha…what?" She asked in response.

"Sora, get out, now!" Tai said, raising his voice, and causing Sora to back away, a look of hurt on her face. That seemed to cause Tai to regain some control, because he added, very softly, "Please…"

Sora nodded once before turning and leaving the room. She was passed on her way out by Agumon heading into the room, and entered the living room area to find everyone staring at her.

Kari was the first to her.

"What happened?" She asked referring, quite obviously, to what had just happened in the room.

"I…I don't know." Sora replied, still confused, and starting to become upset.

_I must have done something wrong…he must actually hate me._ Sora thought to herself as everything that had happened started to sink in.

"Sora?" Sora felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Matt standing there. It was a surprising sight for her, since, other than at this last memorial, Matt had been out of all the digidestined's lives for nearly three years. "Why don't you sit down and tell us what happened?"

Sora nodded as the other digidestined all sat down around her. The digimon just went back to their pile of food, without Davis for once.

"Well, I brought Tai some food, before the digimon ate it all." Sora started off. "He was looking at something on that wrist device of his, some sort of map. I stood next to him to get a better look at it, and then I kissed him."

"Alright Sora!" Davis cheered while everyone else nodded with a smile on their faces. They all knew exactly how Sora felt about Tai, and they were, quite reasonably, excited for her.

"No, not alright Davis. He was fine for a second, and then pushed me away. That's when he shouted." Sora finished, hanging her head down as she said this. The others looked in concern at their friend. "He hates me, I know he must."

"And why's that Sora?" Matt asked as everyone else seemed stunned into silence.

"Well if he didn't hate me, why did he push me away?" Sora asked, and Matt sighed.

"Sora do you remember back a couple of weeks ago, when Tai first revealed himself to us?" Matt asked instead of directly answering the question. Sora just nodded in response. "Do you remember what I said?" Sora shrugged this time not able to recall his words, and Matt let out a sigh.

"Didn't you say that Tai must have gone through something rather bad to have been kept away for this long?" Mimi asked, and it was Matt's turn to nod.

"I did, and there was." Matt answered in addition to his nod. "I found out about this when Tai rescued me from this alternative dimension thing that I got attacked in." Everyone leaned in closer, including all of the digimon, other than Tsunomon who'd been there and was more than content enough to keep eating. "This dimension played out your worst fear or something like that. Tai didn't do a very good job of explaining it. But when he came in, the dimension seemed to target him." Matt paused once more, seeming to gather his thoughts. "It changed from my own worst nightmare to Tai's. I didn't really understand what was going on at first, but Agumon explained a little bit of what was going on. Tai apparently had made some friends during his time away, and they betrayed him. Agumon compared it to me, Davis, and Sora betraying him."

Everyone looked stunned, especially Davis, Kari, and Sora. They knew better than any of the others exactly what that would mean to Tai, and that it was anything but good. T.K. seemed to be thoughtful about something as well.

"They must be the ones Agumon said used Tai to conquer a dimension." T.K. stated out loud after a second, and Matt nodded, and then did a double take.

"How did you know that?" Matt asked, confused as to how his little brother knew something he thought only he knew.

"Uh…" T.K. looked around nervously as everyone focused on him now.

"We met with Tai and Agumon a few times over the last week." Kari answered after a few seconds, gesturing to herself, T.K., and Davis.

"Tai asked us not to tell any of you…" Davis added hesitantly as an excuse as the other digidestined looked at the three younger kids.

"That's not important right now." Matt said before anyone else could say more to the group. He turned back to Sora, who was still sitting between Kari and Mimi. "What is important is what these people did to Tai. Just the sight of them in that other world caused Tai to completely freeze up. I mean he wouldn't listen to me, or Agumon when we were in the middle of a battle, it was disturbing."

"But how does that have an effect on what just happened?" Sora asked, and Matt sighed.

"Don't you get it Sora? They were like new best friends to him, and maybe more." Matt replied. "From the way Tai's been acting so far it's like he's been afraid of something."

"All of you." A voice said from behind Matt, and everyone turned to see Tai and Agumon standing there in the doorway between the rooms.

"Tai…" Kari said as all of the digidestined stood up.

"Please, sit down everyone." Tai said in a quiet voice. None of the digidestined had ever heard him sound like that before.

"I…I need to make things clear for all of you, exactly why I've been acting the way I have. It's not fair to any of you anymore to be in the dark." Tai started off, and Agumon nodded in approval, happy that Tai was doing this. No matter how much it hurt Tai now, Agumon knew this was the best thing for him in the long run. "I was afraid. Those three people that you've been talking about, they did a real number on me. Their names were Xavier, Ethan, and Jane." Tai repressed a shudder at the memories that just uttering those names brought back into his mind. "They told me they were the digidestined of the third dimension I visited. I 'saved' them from a group of rather minor demons, and they recruited me to help them out." Tai's eyes seemed to fog over as more memories that he'd tried to hide away for the last year were dragged to the surface consciously. "I grew close to this group. We all became friends quickly, and fought to save that dimension. At one of the most pivotal battles we had, they showed their true colors, and betrayed me." Tai looked down at Agumon as he said this, and the digimon stared right back at him. "In my anger I made Agumon digivolve to Mega, and he wasn't able to handle the power. I lost control and nearly lost him because of it."

"Tai, you didn't lose me, so stop worrying about that so much!" Agumon exclaimed into the silence that filled the room as Tai stopped talking. "Anyways, those three got exactly what they deserved."

The digidestined were shocked at the hard look that was on Agumon's face and the hard tone in his voice as he said that. They could only guess as to what they deserved actually was.

"That's the cause of why I've been avoiding all of you for most of the time I've been back." Tai recaptured everyone's attention. "I…I wasn't sure I'd be able to trust anyone again." Tai looked out at the gathered digidestined, all of whom were more than a little apprehensive as to where this conversation was going. "But, you guys have proved me wrong every time I've talked with any of you. It was easier than I'd ever thought to begin to trust all of you again."

Smiles broke out among most of the digidestined once more as Tai said all of this, and the digimon actually cheered from the table where all of them were watching. Even Tai's face had a small grin on it as the digimon cheered, but then he sobered up a bit.

"Sora, could I talk to you for a minute, alone?" Tai asked, and that instantly shut all of the digidestined up as Sora nodded and stood up. Tai led the way back into the room they'd kissed in. The second the door was closed the others crowded around it in an attempt to hear what was going on inside.

Tai stopped a few feet into the room, while Sora stayed relatively close to the door. They just looked across at each other for a few seconds, trying to figure the other out.

For Tai, his emotions were still all over the place. The look of hurt on Sora's face when he'd told her to get out had affected him in ways he couldn't really understand. It had upset him to see her that upset, and made Agumon's arguments to tell the others everything very compelling.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean he could ignore what had happened, but it did mean he was being completely honest with everyone right now, so he could do the same with Sora.

Sora on the other hand was nervous. She realized she must have caused Tai some sort of pain, the only real reason he would have acted the way he did, but she couldn't understand what it was. Her mind was continually drawn back to the thought that he hated her, but she desperately hoped that was not true.

Either way, she wanted to try and fix things so that they could at least be friends, because while she had learned how to live without him, it was not an easy experience for her, even when he was dead. Sora didn't even want to imagine what life would be like without him while he was alive.

"I'm sorry…" Both started to say at the exact same moment. Despite waiting for the other to say something, both had decided at essentially the same moment to break the silence.

The two looked at each other, and had to smile, Sora a large grin and Tai a rather reserved and tentative smile. Tai nodded for Sora to go ahead, and she took a breath.

"Look Tai, I'm sorry for kissing you earlier, I don't know what came over me…"

"It's fine Sora."

"…I know you probably hate me even more than before…"

"Sora."

"…But I hope we can still be friends." Sora finally finished what she had wanted to say through Tai's protests.

"Sora, how could you think I could ever hate you?" Tai asked her calmly. He may have conflicting feelings at the moment, but he definitely didn't hate Sora, and didn't want her to think that he did at all.

"Uh…I…that is…I thought…Why did you avoid me then?" Sora finally managed to get out, surprised at Tai's question. She'd been so sure that she'd done something to make Tai hate her, that she'd never really sat down and thought about the exact reason she thought that.

"It's complicated." Tai replied, and then sat down in the chair he'd been in before. "It's mostly the same reason I stopped kissing you."

"You hate me."

"No Sora." Tai replied firmly. "It's not you at all. It's me. You remember the three I told you about before?" Sora nodded. "Well, I was…I had feelings for Jane. That's why I've been avoiding you, and why I freaked out before."

Tai could only look at the ground as he finished saying this. He hadn't really thought about any of this, especially Jane, in nearly a year, and now here he was bringing it all back out into the open.

"Because you have feelings for someone else?" Sora asked, trying hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"Had Sora." Tai replied, his voice starting to quiver a bit. "She betrayed me like the others, and apparently had never felt the same way about me that I felt about her. That's why I've been acting this way. I don't know if I can trust someone that much again. I tried, I tried really hard, but I just couldn't handle it when you started to kiss me."

Tai's voice was very broken at this point, and honestly he was on the verge of tears. He was doing his best to be honest, but honesty didn't help relieve the pain of something like this. It didn't help that he was telling Sora that he couldn't trust her.

Sora's expression however softened as he said that, and she wanted to do nothing more than hold on to her surprisingly fragile friend. The unshed tears in his eyes, in addition to the emotion in his voice convey exactly how much pain Tai had felt from this, and how hard this had to be for him.

"I'm so sorry Tai, I didn't know…" Sora said, looking down herself after a few seconds. She hadn't meant to hurt him, yet she had, once again.

"You don't have to apologize Sora…" Tai started to say, but Sora shook her head.

"I do. I didn't even pause to think about how you might feel, or what might have happened to you. I was just so happy to see you…" Now Sora's voice was starting to quiver as well.

"I was happy to see you to Sora…" Tai said suddenly, and Sora looked up. "You're my best friend Sora, and what I told you the last time we talk is still true." It took Sora a second to remember exactly what he was talking about, and then the memory of what Tai had told her the first time she had kissed him, three years before, came back to her.

"Really?" Sora asked quickly.

"Yes." Tai responded almost as quickly, but also held up a hand. "But I don't think that I'm ready yet. I still need some more time Sora."

Sora hid the look of disappointment that she wanted to show at this point, and nodded.

"Ok Tai. I've waited for three years for this, I can wait some more." She told him, and Tai smiled the biggest smile she'd seen out of him yet.

"Thanks Sor…" Tai started to say, but was interrupted as a loud crash sounded, followed by a large amount of shaking.

"What's going on?" Sora shouted after the noise and shaking subsided. Before Tai could answer the door was thrown open to reveal the other digidestined.

"There's another digimon attack!" Izzy shouted, before another crash resounded throughout the whole building and the shaking started once more.

"We need to get out of this building, now." The digidestined turned to see Tai pulling his digivice back onto his arm. He had a determined look on his face in contrast to the looks he'd had for most of the time he'd been with the digidestined. He was getting ready for whatever was happening.

The digidestined rushed as one group, led by Tai, out of the apartment, heading for the stairs as the building shook from the second attack on the campus in one day.

They emerged out of the apartment complex to find fires raging across the campus. Multiple buildings were not only shattered, but covered in fire as well. All around them destruction reigned supreme where Kyoto University stood.

"Oh my goodness…" Mimi was the first to speak at the sheer destruction around them.

More fireballs arced into some of the (few) buildings that hadn't been hit yet, causing them to burst into flame as well.

"Brave Metal!" A voice shouted just before more fireballs flew out to impact more parts of the campus. Agumon and Tai shared a look as that particular attack occurred.

"Well I guess that means it's definitely a digimon." Davis said to no one in particular. That earned him a rather exasperated look from the other digidestined. Before anyone could say anything though some of the smoke caused by fires was blown away, revealing a fearsome looking digimon.

He was a dragon like digimon, though standing erect on two legs like WarGreymon would. He was covered from head to toe in silver armor which glistened from the raging fires around him. On his back were a pair of large blue wings with what looked like blades jutting from the wings.

"Wow…" Davis said in awe of the digimon in front of them.

"Pepper Breath!" A fireball hit the large digimon before anyone else could react to its presence. The digimon wasn't harmed in the least, but he looked down to where he was getting joint glares from Tai and Agumon.

"Ah, there you are." The digimon said in a deep, rumbling voice.

"Dorugoramon." Agumon replied while Tai remained silent next to him.

"Good job Dorugoramon, you found them!" A cheerful sounding voice called out, just before a human emerged from just behind the large Dorugoramon. He was of average height with blue hair and green eyes. He was dressed in a pair of cargo pants and a hoodie that was a size too large for him. He looked to be younger than Tai, Matt, or Sora, but older than the younger digidestined. The digidestined looked at him confused as to who he was, except for Sora and Kari, who were watching Tai's back as he seemed to shake a bit, and clenched his fist. "Yo! Tai! Long time no see!"

"Not long enough Ethan." Tai replied in a voice that carried surprisingly far for how quiet it was. The other digidestined recognized the name immediately since Tai had just told them about him.

"What?" Ethan laughed at Tai, and then looked at Agumon who was glaring right at him. "Oh, I get it! Hahaha! You thought Agumon destroyed us when you made him digivolve to Mega? Good one Tai! Man, you were always good for a laugh!"

Ahead of the digidestined Tai seemed to stop shaking in front of them, and they could see him take a very deep breath as he calmed himself down.

"This guy is really starting to piss me off…" Davis said to no one in particular as Ethan continued to laugh in Tai's general direction with Dorugoramon standing behind him.

"Hmm…" Ethan stopped laughing as Davis made his comment, looking right at Davis. "You must be Davis. From what Tai told us about you I'd always assumed you had a big mouth. Looks like I was right."

"Hey! You want to come say that to my face!" Davis shouted as he started to move forward, only to be stopped by Matt and Izzy.

"Sure!" Ethan shouted back, dropping his smile for once. "I'd love to introduce your little runt there to Dorugoramon."

"Hey! Who are you calling a runt!" DemiVeemon shouted, jumping on top of Davis's head.

"Davis, stay back." Tai said, holding an arm out to keep the digidestined back.

"Oh, what's this? Tai, are you going to try and fight me?" Ethan's smile was back on his face as he laughed once more. "There's another good one. You don't fight your friends Tai. And isn't that what I am?"

"Not anymore." Tai replied, just before his hand became covered in white data.

"What the…" Matt, Izzy, Sora, and Mimi all said as Tai threw his arm up into the air. He was instantly covered in the same white data.

"D.N.A. FULL CHARGE!" Tai shouted out before running his hand over the scanner on his digivice.

"Agumon warp digivolve to! BurningGreymon!" All of the digidestined were completely surprised since they'd either never seen how Agumon digivolved, or they hadn't seen his Ultimate form. Ethan however didn't even look impressed.

"Same old tricks, huh Tai?" He asked as BurningGreymon landed in between them.

"Whatever works." Tai replied, pulling out a pair of cards. "Digi-Modify! Hyper Chip Activate! Digi-Modify! Speed Boost Activate!" Tai swiped both cards through the card swiping slot, and BurningGreymon started to glow with power, before rushing forward.

"Dragon's Roar!" Twin blasts of energy, one red and one blue cut between BurningGreymon and Dorugoramon.

"Now, you weren't going to start without us were you?" A distinctively feminine voice asked before four new shapes took shape. Two were definitely digimon, about the same size as BurningGreymon and Dorugoramon, while the other two were humans standing at their sides.

One of the digimon had his hands out, and was obviously where the twin blasts had come from. He was covered in white armor, with massive gauntlets and a dragon shaped head that was also armored. He had a large pair of normal blue wings on his back.

His digital companion was also covered in white armor, and his head was even more dragon shaped. A green cape flowed from his back over the thrashing tale behind him. His back lacked any sort of wings. In his hands was a flexible whip sword, which he held ready for use.

"Who are they?" Izzy asked looking at the digimon.

"Dynasmon," Tai replied, nodding towards the first digimon, "And Slayerdramon. They're the partners of Jane and Xavier." Tai said the last two names in barely a whisper as the two humans came into view.

The female, Jane, was wearing jeans and a t-shirt which was covered by a tan jacket. She had light blue eyes and her hair was the most peculiar color any of them had ever seen. It had to be dyed since it was a light pink color, something none of them had ever seen.

The male, Xavier, was wearing dark blue jeans, with a black leather jacket over his own t-shirt. He had blue hair and gray eyes, which glared right at the gather digidestined.

"So you remember us Tai dear, how kind of you." Jane said, smiling as she said this. Tai let out another involuntary shudder, which was observed by everyone there. It caused Jane and the others to start smiling right at him.

"Ok, now I want to rip out someone's fake hair…" Sora said striding forwards towards the laughing Jane, only to be restrained like Davis had.

"Sora, stay back, it's dangerous." Tai said, turning back briefly to look at her.

"Ha! That's the girl you wouldn't shut up about Tai? Her? I'm rather disappointed." Xavier finally spoke, in a cold voice with an even colder laugh.

"Disappointed, I'll show you disappointed…" Matt suddenly let go of Davis as he stepped forward, only to have T.K. and Kari stop him.

BurningGreymon had enough of this. The three people who'd hurt him and Tai more than could possibly be explained were here, wrecking his home dimension, and Tai was frozen. He needed to take them out before something happened.

Little did BurningGreymon know that Tai's thoughts were mirroring his own.

"BurningGreymon!" Tai shouted, just as he jumped into action.

"Pyro Barrage!" He unleashed his attack at Dynasmon and Slayerdramon, hoping to knock them out of the fight early. The shots hit the digimon, but just bounced off of their armor.

"Dragon's Roar!" Dynasmon brought his hands up, pointing right at BurningGreymon, who narrowly avoided his attack.

"Brave Metal!" Dorugoramon finally moved, bringing his hands together in front of him and forming a fireball between them. He then released it right at BurningGreymon, who couldn't avoid the attack.

"AGH!" BurningGreymon shouted as he was hit, as did Tai the second his partner was hit.

"Tai!" The digidestined shouted, but he didn't seem to notice it. He'd dropped down to one knee, just like BurningGreymon.

With a great grunt of effort Tai stood up, just as BurningGreymon did the same.

"Pyro Barrage!" Tai and BurningGreymon shouted as BurningGreymon attacked again, with nearly the same effect. Another blast from Dorugoramon knocked him back to the ground.

"Slayerdramon, put that digimon out of his misery." Xavier's voice could barely be heard over the noise created by BurningGreymon.

"Shoryu Slash!" The formally motionless digimon jumped forward with amazing speed, bringing his whip sword around towards BurningGreymon.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" He was hit in mid jump by a blast of energy, which sent him flying into a still standing building. MetalGarurumon jumped into the building after him.

Xavier watched with an ugly look on his face as his digimon was diverted.

"Nice fail Xavier, my turn! Dorugoramon!" Ethan shouted, laughing even at his friend's expense. Dorugoramon jumped forward with a blast from his wings, intent on getting to BurningGreymon quickly.

"Magna Blast!" Dorugoramon was blasted right off course as Magnamon landed after his attack.

"Who's a runt now?" He asked before jumping into combat.

"UH…Men." Jane muttered before turning to Dynasmon. "Finish him off for me Dynasmon." The large digimon nodded, before turning towards BurningGreymon.

"I don't think so." Sora was standing there between Jane and Tai.

"And what are you going to do? I know for a fact that you only have two Megas on your team, and they're both busy." Jane said looking right at Sora, who looked tiny next to Dynasmon.

"That's where you're wrong…" Sora left off the end threateningly, but it was filled as second later.

"Starlight Explosion!" Stars flew out of the heavens right into Dynasmon, who was knocked backwards by the attack. Phonixmon flapped her wings a few times looking down at the fallen knight.

Jane took the whole situation in quickly, and turned to her cohorts.

"Time to leave boys, now!" She looked at Sora and had the nerve to smile at her before dropping a small sphere in front of her. It expelled a huge smoke screen, which left Sora coughing. When it was finally all gone, the three were all gone.

_Well hopefully that was up to you guys expectations. I really hope you didn't expect a simple get together, that would be far too simple. Also, how'd you like finally being introduced to the three? _

_Ok, couple of things from me, Check out my first companion story for this one, __**Digimon Demon Wars: The Diary**__. It doesn't really have an effect on the plot, but it's an interesting take on the digidestined's feelings after Tai's "death"_

_(and yes, I am shamelessly promoting my own story...I'M ALLOWED TO DO THAT! lol)  
_

_And that's about it…Until next time!_

_Review Replies:_

_Dark Anbu Knight: I hadn't really ever considered that. I always imagined it more as internal forces for him. The side of him that was cautious and trying to avoid getting hurt. But an interesting idea nonetheless._

_Edasama: lol thanks! I enjoyed your little question thing…I actually tried to write one up above, but couldn't think of anything that didn't sound dumb…lol_

_LyraXEthan: Thanks!_

_TaioraWarrior: Glad you enjoy, I do try and show a little bit of everyone in this story. And that was my replacement DemiVeemon humor since there haven't really been any good scenes for him recently lol. And yea, if only you knew…and very bumpy, especially with the ex from hell hanging around lol. And I was writing 3 stories, but I had to drop one of them because it just wasn't working out right now. And I liked your idea, about two months ago when I decided it should happen lol. I laughed so hard when I saw that you put that, knowing what was going into this chapter. I will let you know though, that this isn't the last encounter between Sora and Jane…_

_DephsXylex: Well here's your meeting! Hopefully it was worth the wait…I hope lol. And yea, everyone is pretty dense…silly dense people lol_

_Agubiyofan: Thanks! And will do!_

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Maybe he's being too smart, thinking too much and not just feeling lol. Yes he's smarter, but not braver in dealing with his friends/Sora. But he made some important steps this chapter, and more will be taken soon!_

_Supershooter: Well, I honestly wasn't sure if it was going to be that chapter. The encounter changed like four times in my planning stages, and this was the version I liked the most at the posting day. So did the three showing back up deserve the ominous music after the fact? lol_


	15. Prelude to Battle

_Hey everyone! I'm back! I know you are all probably less than happy that it's taken me this long to update, but a lot of stuff (school) has come up to keep me from writing as much as I would want. On that note, I've got more time now, so expect more updates. In fact, I'm going to all but promise another update before the weekend is done, so look forward to that!_

_Disclaimer: I. DO. NOT. Something or another…I put so much thought into the first three words, I forgot everything else I was going to say…_

_**Last Time:**__ Well, all the digidestined (Minus Joe, Cody, Yolei, and Ken) finally met up in Kyoto, and everyone was spending a little bit of time together. Sora kissed Tai, and he completely flipped out, then, since he felt kinda bad about that, he came and told all the digidestined about why he was so unwilling to talk to them, or be open with his feelings. He told them about three friends he made during his travels, who used and betrayed him to the Demon Lords. Of course, not a few minutes later those same three arrived in Kyoto and started trashing the place. The digidestined were able to beat them off, but that is sure not to be the last time they see them._

**Act III The Storm**

**Chapter 14 Prelude to Battle**

~The Digital World~

Beelzemon paced in his camp, looking down at the three humans and their digimon partners that were standing in front of him.

"What makes you think that your help was asked for here?" He spat at them, causing a look of disgust to cross the only female's face.

"Lord Lucemon ordered us here to make sure you didn't screw up." Jane said as she looked Beelzemon right in the center eye.

"And what makes you think that the three of you can do something I can't do?" Beelzemon asked with barely restrained anger. He was usually one of the cooler heads among the Demon Lords, Daemon was the one who was always angry, but these humans and their little pets never ceased to annoy him.

Beelzemon was fairly certain that was one of the main reasons Lucemon kept them around. If there was anything that the fallen angel loved to do, it was find what pissed off anyone he didn't like and make sure that happened to them all the time.

"Well, we came closer to destroying the digidestined than you have." Xavier replied coldly, leaning back against a tree.

"That's not why we're here!" Beelzemon responded back, looking at Xavier's blank face.

"Oh calm down Beelzemon, it's not like anything bad happened." Ethan said also moving away from where he had been standing half way respectfully a minute before. "If we had destroyed a significant portion of the digidestined, you wouldn't have been upset at all."

"QUIET!" Beelzemon shouted, getting the annoying one to fall silent. Of the three, Beelzemon found Ethan's constant need to talk, and laugh for that matter, more annoying than Xavier's lack of emotional expression, and Jane's air of superiority that she held even in front of him, a Demon Lord.

"My, my Beelzemon, been spending too much time around Daemon have we?" Jane asked in a mocking tone causing Beelzemon to fix all three of his eyes on her once again.

"You may be Lucemon's little play thing, but here I'm in charge, and if you don't show me some respect, you won't like what happens." Beelzemon replied in a threatening tone.

"Are you threatening me?" Jane asked, as the digimon behind her stepped up next to her.

"Yes I am, and don't think your digimon can stop me." Beelzemon replied. Jane looked left and right towards Xavier and Ethan who stepped up next to her. The cocking sound that filled the absolutely silent clearing a second later was almost deafening.

The three looked back to see Beelzemon holding both of his guns, cocked and ready to fire. The four looked at each other, daring the others to make a single move and the entire clearing would erupt into violence.

"Lord Beelzemon!" A voice cut through the clearing breaking the silence and the tension.

A Tsukaimon flew into the clearing, seemingly unaware of the battle that was likely to break out at any second.

"Lord Beelzemon! Lord Lucemon is sending a communication for you and the humans!" The little digimon squeaked out as it seemed to finally see what was going on.

That comment seemed to defuse the situation somewhat though, and the digimon partners seemed to relax a little and Beelzemon put his guns away.

"This way." Beelzemon said to the three humans and their partners. He led them into the largest tent there and straight to a holographic projector in the tent. The three humans went down to a knee as the projector came on, displaying a fuzzy image of Lucemon, surrounded by darkness and fog.

"Beelzemon, report, have you eliminated Kamiya yet?" The fallen angel digimon asked, looking right at the tall demon digimon.

"No. One of the scouts tipped him off to the fact that we were here before I could put my plan in motion. Since then he has been able to avoid all of my attempts to eliminate him." Beelzemon replied, looking right back at Lucemon. He would not act like a scared rookie in front of Lucemon, they were both Demon Lords, even if Lucemon was the leader.

"How, unfortunate." Lucemon replied, looking down at the three humans as he said this. "What have you been doing to rectify your mistakes?"

"My agents have probed this dimensions defenses extensively, and managed to locate several weak links to exploit against Kamiya." Beelzemon replied. "I was about to order another attack against them, which I am fairly confident will finish Kamiya."

"Fairly confident?" Lucemon asked, looking right at his fellow Demon Lord.

"He will be eliminated, if I have to kill him myself." Beelzemon replied. He may not like Lucemon that much, but Kamiya was just as much a threat to him as he was to Lucemon.

Lucemon didn't seem to take comfort in his announcement, but looked down to where the three humans were still bowed down.

"Jane, what do you think the chances of Beelzemon's plan working are?" The fallen angel digimon asked, looking right at the human.

A deep, sub vocal noise seemed to emanate from Beelzemon as Jane looked up from her bow. It wasn't really a growl, but it was close enough.

"I believe that _Lord_ Beelzemon's plan could work, with some modifications." Jane replied, making the Lord sound like an insult rather than the honor it was supposed to represent.

"Very well. Beelzemon, Jane will be in command of your forces for the attack." Lucemon replied a grin splitting his face as a vein seemed to pulse on Beelzemon's forehead.

"We will not fail you Lord Lucemon." Jane replied before bowing once more to the hologram, which collapsed a second later. The three then stood up, looking right at the scowling Beelzemon. "Well, should we get to work then?"

~Kyoto~

The digidestined all stood around the mostly destroyed campus of Kyoto University, watching the back of Tai Kamiya as he stared right at the spot where the three humans they had been fighting had been standing.

MetalGarurumon and Magnamon landed behind their partners as they all waited for Tai to do something. Phonixmon still hovered above the group as they waited. Around them the burning of the campus continued, caused by two separate digimon attacks in a single day.

_This place won't last much longer unless the fire department shows up or something…_ Davis Motomiya thought to himself as he waited with the others. None of them wanted to possibly scare off the big haired man in front of them. They had just seemed to be making some progress with him and then the three people most responsible for messing him had shown up. Now none of them were sure whether or not he'd regress.

Davis was usually a much more impulsive person, and he was ready to jump forward and cheer and stuff at the fact that they'd beaten those same people, but looks from Kari had kept him rooted to his spot. The fact that he was starting to get bored made the droplet of water that hit him a second later all the better, since it offered a nice distraction.

Davis looked up and noticed the large gathering of dark clouds that hadn't been there earlier. They covered the entire sky as far as he could see in all directions.

"Wow, look at that storm!" Davis couldn't help but say, causing several of the other digidestined to look at him, and then up at the sky. Not a few seconds later the entire sky started dropping rain upon the gathered digidestined, soaking them in seconds.

"Oh great, just what I needed, another ruined outfit!" Mimi exclaimed as the rain continued to pour down.

"Look on the bright side Mimi; at least it'll put out the fires!" Palmon exclaimed next to her partner as she soaked up the water falling onto her.

In front of the other digidestined, Kari and Sora both took a step towards Tai. The rain had made the decision for them. They weren't going to sit out here in the rain and get sick, and they certainly weren't going to let Tai do the same. The two women walked up to the motionless Tai, and pulled him to his feet. He didn't try and stand on his own, or stop the two, he just let it happen. In front of him Agumon walked slowly back to them, looking exhausted as well as fairly beat up from the attacks he'd taken in the battle.

"Come on Tai, we'll go back to my dorm and rest up a bit." Sora said as she and Kari lifted the man between them. The only response she got was a grunt, but she took that as a yes, and started walking back to the others. It was slow going until Matt and Davis came over and took over for the girls, heading for the apartment complex.

Everyone dried off when they got back up to the only slightly damaged apartment. With the power out thanks to the digimon attack, several candles were lit around the apartment as the digidestined let their digimon recuperate from the day's battles. Tai was the worst, sitting off by himself, just staring out at nothing in particular.

Everyone stayed this way for nearly an hour, mostly in silence as the exhaustion from the day seemed to sink in on all of them. One by one they all joined the digimon in a state of sleeping, until Tai and Sora were the only two still awake.

Sora was close to passing out herself, only staying awake through sheer force of will. That's when Tai finally stood up and walked into the little kitchen that the dorm had. Sora followed him after a few seconds, entering the kitchen as he pulled some of the food that Agumon and DemiVeemon had left out of the cabinet.

He turned around as she entered the kitchen.

"Hi." Sora said quietly, still a little nervous around her old friend.

"Hey." Tai replied back quietly as he sat down at the table. Sora sat down next to him, and waited quietly while he ate the chips he had pulled out of the cabinet. When he was done however, Sora wasn't going to let him get away.

"You ok?" She asked as he sat back in his chair, the last chip finished.

"If I said yes, would you drop it?" Tai replied back, and Sora was a little surprised. She thought that they'd connected earlier, and were back to being friends, but Tai had never talked to her like that before. "I'm sorry." Tai said before Sora could really reply to his comment. "I didn't really mean for that to come off like that."

Sora scooted a little closer to him, almost unconsciously. Tai seemed to be in an even more vulnerable state, emotionally, than he had ever been in before, and Sora couldn't really fight the urge to comfort him.

"You don't want to talk about it, I understand." Sora said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. There was silence between the two of them for a moment, then Tai spoke.

"I almost lost Agumon because of the three of them." Tai said, looking down at the table. "Of all the things that their betrayal did to me, the worst thing was what I almost did to Agumon."

"They said something about you digivolving him to Mega?" Sora asked, thinking she had things figured out a little bit.

"Yes, that day they betrayed me…"

~_Flashback~_

"Jane?" Tai managed to start, "What…what's going on?"

She let out a laugh, far less cute and friendly that the one Tai was used to.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked through her laughter. "Ending this foolish resistance."

"Wha…What?" Tai asked, not understanding what she meant.

Jane let out another laugh. "You really are that naive aren't you? We aren't really from this dimension. We were sent here to help prepare this world for Lord Lucemon's take over, and you helped us do that!"

"No, that can't be true…" Tai struggled to say as Jane continued to laugh at him. "What about us?"

"Us?" Jane asked as she once more let out a bark of laughter. "There was no us, as if anyone could really love you."

Tai didn't reply to this, instead clenching a fist as Jane continued to laugh. Suddenly he let out a shout of pure anger, seconds before becoming covered in a cloud of white data once more. This time the data looked like it was on fire as Tai shouted even louder.

"D.N.A. CHARGE!" Tai started to shout, words flying off his lips almost without him thinking about it. "OVERDRIVE!" Tai swiped his hand over the scanner on his digivice, and a blast of light shout forth, hitting BurningGreymon.

BurningGreymon suddenly shot up, his own shout released as his eyes glowed red.

"BurningGreymon digivolve to!" BurningGreymon disappeared, and was replaced by a tall, massively armored digimon. His armor was red and gold. It was very ornate, covered in stylized dragons heads all over it. On his back was a large sword, gleaming in the weak sunlight. His head looked similar to WarGreymon's but completely orange. "EmperorGreymon!"

EmperorGreymon's eyes continued to glow red as he stared right at the three digimon and their human partners in front of him.

"Destroy them, EmperorGreymon!" Tai shouted, his voice laced with all of the rage that he was feeling at their betrayal.

EmperorGreymon didn't move an inch, but rather growled like a wild animal, looking all around him.

"EmperorGreymon! Attack!" Tai shouted again, with the exact same result.

"Oh would you look at that boys." Jane taunted in a voice far different than the one Tai was used to hearing. "Looks like EmperorGreymon's a little too powerful for little old Agumon to handle. He can't even control himself!"

Ethan let out a laugh, which now that Tai wasn't laughing with him just sounded annoying. Xavier just stood there looking pissed as ever.

"Oh well, Dynasmon, end his existence, and then we'll take care of little old Tai." Jane ordered with a bite in her voice now.

Dynasmon leapt forward, his hands outstretched as he prepared to attack EmperorGreymon, who was now holding his head. Dynasmon launched his attack seconds later, the twin beams hitting EmperorGreymon.

"EmperorGreymon! NO!" Tai shouted as his last friend in the world was hit with the twin blasts. The explosion from their impact was massive, causing Tai to fall back. He looked up as the smoke started to clear, only to see that EmperorGreymon wasn't even fazed by the attack. In fact he was looking right at Dynasmon with his red eyes. The sound he made was now more threatening as he stepped towards Dynasmon.

Jane seemed surprised that EmperorGreymon was still there, but she yelled up at the frozen Dynasmon.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Attack again!" She yelled up at her partner, who shook himself, then jumped up at EmperorGreymon. EmperorGreymon tracked Dynasmon with his head, and a second before he launched his attack EmperorGreymon disappeared.

"What?" Dynasmon asked as his target disappeared before the attack hit.

"Graghrg!" A noise came from behind Dynasmon, who turned to see EmperorGreymon falling onto him, sword raised above his head. The sword hit Dynasmon, who was sent flying into the ground, dedigivolving into Candlemon as he hit the ground.

EmperorGreymon landed opposite of the three, while Dorugoramon and Slayerdramon both stepped forward. He held out the large sword, which floated in front of him for a minute as he grabbed the hilt guards and pulled them back. Now he was holding onto it like some sort of cannon or crossbow.

"Grghrgagh!" EmperorGreymon shouted, almost sounding as if he was in pain as much as he was angry. The blade of the sword suddenly seemed to catch on fire, and then launched right at the three, creating a massive explosion as it hit them.

Tai had to cover his face to block out the explosion, and when it faded, the three were gone from sight.

"You did it EmperorGreymon!" Tai shouted as he saw that the three were no more. Unfortunately his partner didn't really respond how he wanted.

"Gagragh" EmperorGreymon shouted once more, swinging his newly reformed sword around, and randomly launching fire bolts from it. Tai could do nothing as his partner went completely insane, until he started to glow, and shrunk in size.

~_UnFlashback~_

Tai sat back after recounting that tale. Of all of the things that the betrayal of Jane, Ethan, and Xavier had done to him, almost destroying Agumon had probably been the worst. The one true friend he had left in any of the dimensions had almost been lost to him thanks to that experience.

"Tai, that's not your fault." Sora said as she assimilated what he'd told her. It seemed very similar to the time that Tai had accidentally digivolve Agumon into SkullGreymon. Only this one seemed to stick with his even more than that incident.

"Yes it is Sora, I made him do that." Tai replied, and was going to say more, but Sora's hand over his mouth stopped him.

"Tai, it isn't. You said yourself you didn't even know what you were doing. It was an accident. You couldn't have known what was going to happen when you digivolved him." Sora told her, looking at Tai through partially angry eyes. She didn't like this Tai who was beating himself up over things that happened in the past. He had to learn to let things go. "You have to learn to let things go, and live in the present. If you don't, Jane and her two lackeys will have won, and all of us will lose. We need you here with us, leading us like you did in the digital world, it's the only way we'll be able to survive."

Tai seemed dumbstruck at Sora's speech, and she removed her hand from his mouth.

"I don't want you to say anything, and I know you can't just flip a switch and be back to normal, but you have to try and let go of the past, or it will control you for the rest of your life." Sora finished, and then stood up. She wasn't going to hang around and argue at this point, no matter what he wanted to do.

She got a step out of the kitchen, when she felt a hand grab her wrist. Tai spun her around, and pulled her into a hug, holding onto her tightly. Sora was surprised at first, but was then hugging him just as tightly.

After a few seconds the two let go of each other, almost simultaneously. Sora looked into his eyes, staring right into him almost.

"Tai I meant what I said, we need you, and you need us. We're all here for you, and we aren't going to let those three monsters hurt you ever again." Sora told him, and he smiled, still a small one, very unlike his trademark lopsided grin, but a true smile none the less.

~Tokyo~

Joe Kido watched as the massive amounts of rain poured from the heavens, covering the entire city of Tokyo in its down pour.

"Satellite images show a massive storm cell covering almost the entirety of Japan, and holding over the country. There is no end in sight to this massive storm…" A news program was saying from where Yolei and Ken were sitting watching the television.

The two of them, and Cody were all together at Joe's apartment, spending the time they all had off from school together in case a problem should arrive. The storm had been going on for several days now; from late on the same day that Davis, T.K., Kari, and Izzy had all travelled to Kyoto to help protect Mimi and Sora. That group was on its way back to Tokyo right at this moment, but they were still a couple of hours away at best.

Not only had the storm closed out schools due to flooding, but it had slowed down all sorts of travelling across the country. The other digidestined had been travelling back for a couple of days now, and they were still a good distance away. The subways and streets were all flooded; airports were closed as planes couldn't take off or land with the high winds or torrential rain down pours that were occurring.

Joe had some suspicions about this rainfall, as it was occurring at far too odd of a time, right in the middle of a series of digimon attacks, and it was going on for far too long. Not to mention the fact that it was only affecting Japan with its havoc.

_This is just like Myotismon's fog bank…_ Joe thought to himself as he continued to watch the rain fall. _Even if it has nothing to do with digimon I'll still feel a lot better once all of us are together. Just in case there is an attack of some sort._

Joe knew he was probably just being a little paranoid, but the pictures of Kyoto University, and the warnings the others had sent ahead had him on edge. The thought of an attack on the city while most of the digidestined were away didn't do much to put Joe at ease.

_At least we still have power for now…_

"…Wait, this just in!" The news caster suddenly went from a boring repetition of weather reports, to an excited tone. "Apparently several large monsters, possibly digimon, have been sighted in downtown Tokyo, not far from the harbor. So far they aren't doing anything…wait, no, they are attacking the downtown area, which right now is fairly empt…." Whatever else the man was going to say died as the TV and every other device that relied on the cities power grid died at that moment.

"Powers out!" Yolei exclaimed almost unnecessarily.

"I don't think that's our biggest problem." Cody said, and Joe had to agree with him. There was a digimon attack occurring downtown, and they were the only ones who could stop it.

"We have to get down town guys." Joe said to the dark room, and a chorus of oks answered him. Joe headed for the door, certain the others would follow him.

_I hope Tai and the others hurry back, we won't be able to hold off very many digimon at this stage…_

~End chapter~

_Well, there you go. Hopefully that was entertaining for all of you, despite its shortness. I thought it had some pretty good stuff in it, and it's setting up the next series of chapters very well._

_Ok, until next time!_

_**Review Replies:**_

_TheOmegaMan:…I'm tempted not even to reply to you at this point._

_LyraXEthan: Thanks! They are an evil bunch, and should be good villains until the DD take them out, finally._

_my daydream world: I'm glad your email is back to working, and I couldn't agree with you more. Tai and Sora were way better than Sora and Matt ever were. _

_Appealtoreason: EmperorGreymon?_

_TaioraWarrior: haha, I'm glad you liked all of those parts, it was just typical stuff, though the kiss idea wasn't entirely my idea. Theomegaman helped a little with that idea, since I was having trouble getting that scene how I liked it. I really liked how it came out in the end. And don't worry, you'll get a scene like that, except, the digimon will be there. First though you'll have to deal with just a Sora and Jane and digimon scene, or rather, chapter. And the Oreo was very good, if rather short lived._

_Dark Anbu Knight: Yea, I haven't really seen any of the Xros wars stuff, so I wouldn't feel comfortable using them. Anyways, I wanted to try out some OCs. Thanks!_

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Oh, they will! It just is a matter of how long it'll take for that to happen._

_Klyn Farseer: Lol. That's sorta what I was trying to do, make a bit of humor at everyone else's expense lol. Thanks! And I hope this one lived up to the expectations._

_Edasama lol you're welcome, thanks again for the good laugh. Yea, I had always planned to bring the three into the story, I just didn't expect this big of a reaction to it. I was honestly surprised, because everyone had talked and complained for like three chapters about Sora and Tai's meeting, and all everyone talks about is the three coming back. And it doesn't sound stupid at all, but it still made me laugh lol._

_Supershooter: oh…now I'm disappointed. Thanks! and I didn't ruin it, the villains ruined it. I mean, you can't have a good nice moment until the battles are over, unless you want the villains to ruin it._

_Angelfish369: Yep! Though Tai may not be the one doing the defeating. More on that next time. And yep, he has all the backup he should need, hopefully. And Yay him and Sora!_

_Odinson83: I may have that happen behind scenes, but I think mostly Sora will be laying low with the feelings thing. Neither of them were every very good at expressing their feelings in the past, and things are far too delicate for them to experiment right now. Did you like Agumon's digivolution? I wouldn't call it a dark digivolution, more like an uncontrolled one. Also, there won't be WarGreymon in this fic, but I won't say Agumon digivolves the same way when Tai finally gets to digivolve to Mega._

_Matani: Lol, I'm glad there was one part you liked especially. This one was supposed to be a bit farther from Canon, and let me do some more interesting things with the story. HFWC is supposed to be my representation of what Canon should have been…freaking Toei jerks messing that up. I can understand that as well. Expect Tai to get steadily more badass as things go along though, especially in the second part, if you can stick it out. And that's understandable of course._

_The other Guy: You know, I'm really starting to think maybe it was a good thing I updated so late lol. And was it that much effort? You could have just gone on my profile and checked out all of my other stories lol. And don't worry, then next few chapters will be filled with Mega digimon battles, though WarGreymon will not be making another appearance. He is my favorite digimon of all time, but there are some other variations of him I like almost as much, and are a tiny bit more powerful, so more useful as an end all._


	16. Battle in the City: Davis vs Ethan

_Ok, so this wasn't out as fast as I'd wanted, but it's still out really fast compared to the last chapter, so be happy about that at least. I won't promise a specific time line for the next chapter, but it should be out soonish. Ok, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own digimon in anyway, otherwise I could make one of my stories come true, and someone somewhere would be more happy._

_**Last Time:**__ The digidestined all started to rest a bit from the last several days and the battles that filled those days. Meanwhile Beelzemon was less than pleased to find out about the "allies" that had arrived in the digital world. Despite that fact the three and Beelzemon planned out a new attack against the digidestined. As this happened a massive storm covered the entirety of Japan, slowing travel across the country._

**Chapter 15: Battle in the City: Davis vs. Ethan**

Tai Kamiya stared out the window of the train into the torrent of rain that was pouring from the sky. The slowdown in travel seemed far too suspicious to him, and his gut was telling him this wasn't some freak storm caused by nature. That's why he'd insisted in getting back to Tokyo as fast as possible, with all of the digidestined.

Things hadn't been bad during the trip, other than the sheer amount of difficulty the storm was causing in the trip. Originally they were going to use Matt's tour bus to return to Tokyo, but only a few hours into the trip the roads had become too flooded to allow travel. Next they'd tried using a boat to travel along the coast, but the ports were completely swamped under people attempting to do the same thing, and the water level was steadily rising even as those people chartered the boats.

Finally they'd settled on using the rail system, which wasn't as swamped, and less flooded than the roads. Unfortunately less flooded didn't mean not flooded, and they'd had to detour around flooded areas in the tracks. All of this meant that three days after fending off of the three (_I've really got to think of a better name for them_ Tai thought to himself) they still hadn't gotten back to Tokyo.

Tai couldn't help but look out the window, doing his best to will the train to hurry up. His gut kept telling him that it was of extreme importance for him to be in Tokyo, and this damn storm had been preventing that from being easy.

_Then of course, what exactly about the last three years of my life has been easy?_ Tai thought to himself with a smile forming on his lips. That was one of the things he was starting to do more often, and he was glad of that fact. The last year had left little for him to smile about, and it was good to be a bit more cheerful now.

Despite the anxiety Tai was feeling over the delays in getting back to Tokyo the last three days had been great for him. He'd been able to reconnect with his friends and start what he was sure was a long term healing process. Things were even better for Agumon, who was almost completely back to his old self among the other digimon. The last time he'd really been able to relax with other digimon had been when the two of them were recuperating with the Digimon Tamers, over a year ago.

Tai was so absorbed in thought that he didn't even notice someone walk up behind him and almost jumped out of his skin when the person put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Kari standing behind him, a look of concern on her face.

"You shouldn't worry so much Tai." She said, stepping forward to look out the window with him. "We'll get to Tokyo as soon as we can."

"I know Kari, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to worry." Tai replied, looking out over his little sister's shoulder. "I've spent the last year working to get back here before Lucemon and his cronies, and I'm not going to let them touch this world."

Kari was a little surprised at the conviction behind her brother's voice. Tai had always been a person of strong passions, throwing himself completely into everything that he did before his disappearance, but some of that had seemed to be missing from him upon his return. Instead he'd seemed more like a calculating person, one who weighed in all of the options open to him before charging into battle, far different than he had been. But just then he'd sounded like his old self, a person who was so absolutely certain about what he had to do that he was going to do it, despite the rest of the world or the odds stacked up against him.

"Well, don't forget you're not alone Tai, the rest of us are here with you." Kari said, smiling up at her older brother.

"I'll remember that." Tai replied, smiling back. "It's good to be part of a team again."

The two sat in a comfortable silence after that, watching the others on the train. Davis was sleeping, surrounded by most of the digimon, who found him to be a good pillow. Mimi was talking to Matt and Izzy quietly a little ways away from the pile of sleepers, while Sora and T.K. were playing cards with a deck that Davis had provided. All in all it was very peaceful in the car that the digidestined had to themselves.

Seconds later a loud voice came over the train's speaker system, shattering the relaxed quiet of the car.

"Attention all passengers, we will be arriving at Tokyo Station soon. Please prepare for departure." The voice announced to the entire train, causing Davis to sit straight up, and most of the digimon to go flying.

"Whodowhat?" Davis mumbled as he looked around the car.

"We're there Davis." T.K. said, shaking his head at his goggleheaded friend.

"Oh, good." Davis replied, standing up and stretching as the train started to decelerate into the station. Several minutes later they were stopped at the station and the digidestined were all entering into the main lobby of Tokyo's busiest intercity train station. Of course, at this moment it was almost completely empty since most people seemed to have taken the sensible course of action, and remained at home.

The digidestined however still needed to make it home before they could join the sensible people of Japan in that, so they headed down a level to where the intra-city subway station was located. They split up at this point, agreeing to meet up the next day to discuss their plan of action. Matt and Izzy were the first to depart, Izzy was heading to his parent's apartment, while Matt was heading to his dad's apartment. The two happened to be traveling together for another station, so they left together.

The next train was for the section of Odaiba where the Kamiya's lived, so Tai, Kari, T.K., and Davis all stepped forward to board the train, along with their partners. Agumon however stopped to look back at Sora and Biyomon.

"Don't you two live at the Kamiya's?" He asked, earning him an odd glance from everyone, other than Sora and Biyomon.

"Yea, but I want to make sure Mimi makes it to her place, then I'll come back with you guys tomorrow." Sora replied, smiling at Agumon while everyone else still had looks of confusion on their faces. Agumon nodded and stepped onto the subway, which departed before they could do anything else about it.

"What was that about?" Tai asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Sora lives with us when she's in Tokyo." Kari replied nonchalantly, seemingly recovered from her confusion.

"Since when?"

"Since her mother decided to move to Kyoto. Sora didn't want to leave halfway through her senior year of high school, so mom offered to let her stay with us." Kari replied, and Tai suddenly put all of the time frames together and realized exactly when that must have been. "I'm just curious as to how Agumon knew that."

"Uh…" The small orange dinosaur digimon started to say, but after a look from both Kamiyas just lowers his head. "I , uh, visited Sora right after we stopped the first attack against the others."

"So you weren't really at the grocery store." Tai declared, earning him a look from both T.K. and Davis, along with all the other digimon.

"No, I went there afterwards." Agumon replied, earning him a headshake from Tai. The rest of the trip passed fairly amiably with the four friends discussing finally getting home, and the storm around them. Despite participating in this conversation Tai couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, a feeling which grew with every passing second. By the time they finally reached their station in Odaiba, Tai was absolutely certain that something was going on, something bad.

The four and their digimon exited the station to find it crammed full of people, all of whom were being carefully herded around by police officers.

"What the hell…" Davis said as they took in the sight in front of them. It was the exact opposite of what they had seen at every other train station. Tai however made a beeline for one of the cops, intent on finding out exactly what was going on.

The answer he got didn't make him very happy, to say the least.

He made his way back to the others, giving Agumon a look which told his partner everything he needed to know, and then heading for the door. The others were, of course, surprised, and charged after him.

"Tai! Wait! What's going on?" Kari called after him as she attempted to keep up with his fast pace through the crowd.

"There's an attack going on, right above our heads!" Tai shouted back, pulling his arm up as he neared the door. As he and Agumon broke through the crowd Tai was covered in data, and all the digidestined knew what was coming next.

"D.N.A.! FULL! CHARGE!"

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to! BurningGreymon!" Agumon managed to make it all the way through the door before growing in size to his Ultimate form, and Tai followed him out into the pouring rain.

He quickly swiped a pair of cards to power BurningGreymon up before putting the others away. The rain would severely hamper his ability to use any of his cards unless he wanted them completely ruined. The other managed to catch up to him as he finished this up, and luckily theses three had the most experience of any of the digidestined with the way Tai operated now, and knew to trust him, so they followed him.

With BurningGreymon leading the way the four humans and their partners head for the bright flashes that were coming from the main business section of Odaiba. Unfortunately, they weren't destined to make it very far.

"Hey! Losers!" A voice called out, just as two shapes stepped out in front of the digidestined. Tai immediately recognized the person as Ethan and the rookie form of his partner, Dorumon. They four digidestined stood opposite Ethan, and they could make out his smirk even through the rain.

"You didn't think I was about to let you go in and ruin all of the fun downtown did you?" He asked, still grinning. That's when Davis stepped forward.

"I'll take care of this guy." He said, turning to look at Tai and the others. "You guys go forward and stop the attack."

Tai looked at Davis for a minute before nodding, and taking off down one of the side streets. Kari and T.K. followed a second later leaving Davis and Veemon alone facing Ethan.

"Wow. You're not even going to try and stop them?" Davis said after the others got the head start he knew they needed. "You've got to be the worst excuse for a bad guy I've ever seen."

"Who said I was here for them?" Ethan replied, his customary grin still on his face.

"So, you're here to go shopping?" Davis asked, grinning right back at Ethan. That caused the other boy just to laugh some more.

"Shopping? That's a good one. You got anymore?" Ethan asked, and Davis just shook his head.

"Sorry, I only joke with my friends."

"Well, we can be friends. It should be easy enough. After all I got your mentor to be my friend easily enough." Ethan replied, and the smile disappeared from Davis's face. He'd been willing to verbally spar, or rather his version of verbally sparring, trading crude jokes, with Ethan, but he'd gone too far.

"Oh, did I touch a nerve there?" Ethan asked, and Davis just nodded, which caused Ethan to smile even wider. Ethan had heard a lot about Davis from Tai, even occasionally being compared to the other goggle wearing member of the digidestined. He'd been looking forward to actually getting the chance to down this particular member of the digidestined for over a year now. So far his plan was working perfectly. He just needed to get Davis too riled up to really focus on any sort of plan and he'd be easy prey for Dorugoramon.

"Well, I can't say I'm sorry. I mean, having a loser like Tai as your mentor just makes you completely deserving of ridicule like that." Ethan said, continuing along the topic that he'd found to piss of Davis. Many people wouldn't believe it but Ethan was very good at manipulating his enemies into making mistakes. It was one of the things most useful about him to the Demon Lords. In a one on one battle he could incapacitate almost any opponent before the battle even began, simply by exploiting a touchy subject for that person.

Davis for his part just clenched a fist at Ethan's comment, and Veemon could feel Davis anger start to channel energy into him, more energy than he'd ever felt before having to digivolve. Davis slowly unclenched his fist as Ethan started laughing again, and he forced himself to relax. Getting angry would only cause him to do something stupid, or maybe even cause Veemon to dark digivolve. The younger digidestined had heard enough stories about what could happen if they had their partner's digivolve for the wrong reasons.

"That's where you're wrong Ethan. Tai's a great mentor." Davis started, and words just seemed to come to him as he spoke. "I mean, you guys had to use him to do your job for you."

Ethan's smile dropped off his face for a second as Davis made this comment, and Davis's face broke out into a huge grin.

"You're not the only one who can mess with people's heads." Davis said, and Ethan just shook his head.

"You think you can mess with me?"

"No, not really." Davis replied, "I'm not that dumb. On the other hand, I'm sure Veemon here could mess your little runt of a partner up pretty easily."

Davis turned his attention to Ethan's partner, mostly as payback for him calling Veemon a runt in their earlier battle. It didn't really help Ethan that Dorumon was little larger than a normal squirrel, and looked just like one as well. Davis didn't really know it, but that touched a nerve for both Ethan and Dorumon.

"Why you…" Ethan snarled as Dorumon jumped off of his shoulder.

"Dorumon warp digivolve to! Dorugoramon!" The little Dorumon grew in size rapidly into his mega form Dorugoramon, landing in between his partner and Davis. Ethan was still holding his digivice out, despite the pouring rain, allowing Davis to get a good look at it. It was identical to the one used by the older digidestined.

"Wow, you're still using one of those old things?" Davis asked, pulling out his D-3. "Let's go Veemon!"

"Right Davis!" Veemon shouted, running forward. A beam of light shot out from Davis's digivice hitting the small blue dragon like digimon, triggering his digivolution.

"Veemon warp digivolve to! Magnamon!" The golden armored knight landed just at the feet of the larger Dorugoramon, and jumped right up at him.

"Magna Punch!" Magnamon shot straight up from where he landed, hitting Dorugoramon under the chin and knocking the large dragon like digimon onto his back.

"Magna Kick!" Magnamon followed his punch up with a spinning kick as Dorugoramon attempted to get back up. The kick sent the large dragon digimon crashing up the middle of the street.

"You picked the wrong world, and the wrong digidestined to mess with." Davis said as Magnamon landed just in front of his partner. The rain hitting his armor quickly vaporized from the power coming off of Magnamon.

"You think that's going to stop us?" Ethan asked with a laugh. Before he could say anything else Dorugoramon was back on his feet, flying right for Magnamon and Davis.

"Aura Barrier!" Magnamon called out, holding his arms out in front of him as his armor started to glow even brighter than before. Dorugoramon flew right at him, but a few feet in front of him he seemed to hit a barrier, and instead of hitting Magnamon and Davis flew over them before crashing into the street once more.

"Alright Magnamon!" Davis called out as he watched Dorugoramon fly over their heads, blocking the rain for a second.

"Davis, find some cover so I don't have to worry about protecting you to!" Magnamon shouted, before dashing towards the quickly recovering Dorugoramon.

Davis didn't take long to act on his partner's order, running over to one of the nearby buildings.

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice shouted, and Davis turned to see Ethan running right at him.

"What the…" Davis started to say, but was cut off as Ethan tackled him to the ground.

Meanwhile Magnamon finally got to Dorugoramon, only to be greeted with fire.

"Brave Metal!" Dorugoramon had gathered a powerful fireball in his hands, and threw it right at Magnamon. The Royal Knight jumped through the air to avoid the blast from his opponent, which vaporized all of the rain it hit as it shot out from where he was.

"Brave Metal!" Dorugoramon formed a steady stream of fireballs that he sent at Magnamon, who managed to avoid them, barely, each time. Magnamon jumped in, attempting to get close enough to hit the large dragon digimon with one of his close attacks, but instead he got a taste of his own method.

Dorugoramon swept an arm around, hitting Magnamon with enough force to send the golden knight flying. He crashed right into one of the buildings.

"Brave Metal!" Dorugoramon poured a steady stream of fireballs into the building, attempting to hit Magnamon with at least one of his powerful attacks.

Meanwhile below this building Davis and Ethan were having their own fight.

"What the hell are you doing?" Davis asked as he back peddled to avoid another punch from the other boy.

"Trying to punch you, what does it look like?" Ethan responded, taking another swing at Davis, who avoided him once more.

"Well, why are you doing that?" Davis asked, avoiding a third punch.

"Because we're enemies, we're supposed to fight!" Ethan replied winding up to take another punch. Davis beat him to the punch, literally, by hitting him in the chest with a well-placed kick. Ethan staggered backwards, clutching his chest from the blow.

"You know, usually we leave the fighting to our digimon, but in your case, I think I like this exception." Davis said to Ethan, before running forward, intent on punching the living hell out of Ethan. Unfortunately for him Ethan was down, but not out. He hit Davis with a punch before Davis could land one upon him.

"I finally agree with you over something!" Ethan replied before launching himself at Davis, only to be stopped by some of the burning debris from the building above him. He and Davis both looked up to the source, only to watch as several more fireballs hit the building, causing it to spew more debris out into the street where Ethan and Davis were standing.

The two teens both back pedaled away from the falling debris, before all out sprinting as more blast dislodged even more parts of the building.

Dorugoramon didn't seem to notice the humans, or he just didn't care about them as he continued to pour attacks into the building where he'd thrown Magnamon.

"I really think you should work on your aim a little. Hitting a building isn't that impressive!" A voice shouted from behind Dorugoramon, who turned to see Magnamon standing there stretching his arms out wide.

"Magna Blast!" lightning seemed to flow between his hands as he said this, then dozens of plasma blasts flew out from him, hitting Dorugoramon and all around him. Explosions, both from the hits on Dorugoramon and on the ground, filled up the street they were standing in.

Magnamon hovered, panting in the air as the rain continued to pour around him.

_That should have done it._ The digimon thought to himself as he watched for any sign of movement from below him.

"DORU Djinn!" Magnamon barely heard a loud voice call thought out before a shockwave of energy hit him, sending him crashing into the closest building, and falling down to the ground. Magnamon hit the ground with a great thud, before falling face first into the ground.

Davis and Ethan had both gone for cover when Dorugoramon had been attacking, but now Ethan came out of cover, cheering.

"Ha! Good work Dorugoramon! You showed him who's the mon!" Ethan started to yell as he ran out to where a battered looking Dorugoramon was standing.

Davis ran right over to Magnamon, who was still lying face down on the ground, the glow that always seemed to surround him seemed to be gone for the first time that Davis had ever seen.

"Magnamon!" Davis yelled, skidding to a halt next to his partner and dropping down next to him. "Come on, speak to me buddy!"

Davis shook Magnamon's arm, attempting to get some sort of movement out of his partner, but he didn't get a single response out of him.

"Wow. That was way easier than I thought it would be." Ethan taunted as he stood next to Dorugoramon, looking at Davis and Magnamon. "I guess I over estimated you and your partner. I at least expected this fight to last longer than ten minutes."

"Magnamon…" Davis didn't seem to notice Ethan's comments in the least, paying full attention to his partner instead. "Come on Magnamon, you have to get up, you've just got to…" Davis shook his arm once more as Ethan looked on, a smile forming on his features.

"Don't you get it Davis?" He called down to the other teen. "He's gone. Pretty soon he's going to start to break apart into data and go away. And you're never going to see him again. The only thing that could save him now is a miracle." Ethan started laughing once more as Davis continued to shake his partners arm.

"Magna…mon…" Davis pulled his arm one last time, his entire body sagging as he finally seemed to sense the truth behind the words he didn't want to hear. Two things happened as he sagged over, first a drop of liquid that wasn't rain fell from Davis's eye, landing right on the Crest which had fallen out of his shirt as he sagged over. The second was that Crest, which let out a blinding flash of light which filled the entire square.

Ethan and Dorugoramon both turned away as the light blinded them for a second, and when it finally disappeared, instead of a defeated Davis and Magnamon they found a glowing Magnamon with Davis standing tall right behind him.

"Wha…what?" Ethan asked, unable to believe his eyes.

"Well, you said it yourself Ethan, it would take a Miracle. Well, luckily for me, I specialize in Miracles." Davis said, looking right at Ethan and Dorugoramon. "They're all yours Magnamon."

The glowing digimon nodded, and dashed forward, running right at Ethan and Dorugoramon.

"Stop him!" Ethan shouted frantically, and Dorugoramon tried, firing fireballs at the charging digimon, only to have him block each one with his armored braces. "Stop him now!" Ethan shouted even more frantically, but it was already too late. Magnamon jumped into the air a few dozen feet in front of the two, and landed a kick which sent Dorugoramon flying.

He flew right after the flying digimon, and watched him crash into one of the buildings. Then Magnamon prepared to finish him off.

He spread his arms once more, and lightning shot between them, much more than the last time he had attacked.

"Magna Blast!" Magnamon sent waves of plasma, much more powerful than his last attack since he was fully powered by Davis's Crest now, right at Dorugoramon, who couldn't avoid the attack. The explosion was enough to collapse the entire side of the building that Dorugoramon had crashed into, burying the digimon under the attack.

Davis watched as his partner returned to him, flying past the distraught Ethan, who was busy rushing to the collapsed building.

Davis looked up at his glowing partner, and had to ask.

"Did you destroy him?"

"No. But he won't be fighting again anytime soon." Magnamon replied before his entire body started to glow, and DemiVeemon collapsed at Davis's feet. Davis immediately picked up his exhausted partner.

"Let's not do that again anytime soon." DemiVeemon said, and Davis laughed, a little of his goofy side coming out.

"But DemiVeemon, you kicked his butt!" Davis exclaimed, and his partner just sighed.

"Then why do I feel like my butt got kicked?"

Davis was about to respond when the sounds and lights of battle reached him from the downtown area, reminding him that there was still a battle going on.

"I don't think we're done yet buddy. You got another one in you?" Davis asked, no joking in his voice.

DemiVeemon looked up at his partner, and nodded, crawling up onto his shoulder.

"Let's go!"

_Well, that's one down, only two more to go, but the digidestined are spread out all over Tokyo. How are they going to gather to defeat this threat to the city? Find out next time on Digimon Demon Wars!_

…_wow, I felt so lame, and so awesome saying that._

_**Review Replies:**_

_TheOmegaMan: Easy, it's so much more fun to mess with you than to actually figure out a witty uck _

_Dark Anbu Knight: I don't think we'll see a cross over until the next part of this series, which isn't that far away. I still haven't figured out which group will cross over first though. And I was originally going to use VictoryGreymon for this story, but I watched Frontier in the middle of writing this, and figured this would be my only opportunity to use EmperorGreymon, so I had to take it. I am using VictoryGreymon in another story, so it seems kinda fair to me._

_Edasama: Thanks! and they always do. What did you think of mine?_

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Yep! And he'll be in charge, it "off screen" for most of the upcoming battles. Everyone else has a little one on one battle to take care of first! And yea, I rather liked that moment myself._

_TaioraWarrior: yea, he's a pretty good bouncing board for ideas, and we both brainstorm with each other's stories if one of us gets stuck with a part. And, I tried a little to get some yays in the last chapter of HFWC, but I think I've kinda out grown them…it's almost sad to think about. I'm glad you hate Jane and the three, they're supposed to be hated. Just wait until her one on one chapter…it's going to be epic!_

_LyraXEthan: Yep! And hopefully it'll only keep getting exciting._

_Supershooter: Thanks! and I agree with you (actually that was the main reason for the like 2 second scene in this chapter) which is why they'll have a bunch of time to do that in the next to chapters. I think you'll like what I have planned._

_The other Guy: EmperorGreymon is Frontier, ShineGreymon (the only mega level Greymon I don't like that much) is from Data Squad. You should really take the opportunity to watch both of them. I found that they were both pretty good, and frontier might actually be my favorite after Adventure. And thanks! I always like trying to keep my readers on their toes, plus then there is some surprise as to what they will digivolve into! Hey, an author's got to do what an author's got to do, and yea, doing that makes things a lot easier, kinda like actually getting a profile. Then you can set up alerts for stories so you know the second a new chapter is out. And WarGreymon is my fave, because he was my favorite as a kid, and I still love him. That being said, I like to have other digimon, especially really awesome ones (like Magnamon, VictoryGreymon and EmperorGreymon) that don't get a lot of publicity. WarGreymon was in the show a lot, and despite how much I love him, I like using other, less common things as well._

_Odinson83: Yea, it's more of an uncontrolled digivolution. And I won't really say anything about what his "locked in" form is, other than it will be tight, but still slightly different, though I don't think you'll be able to guess how though!_


	17. Battle in the City: Matt vs Xavier

_Well hello folks, sorry about the long delay. If you're fans of How Far We've Come you know I've been completely gone from writing, but if not then well, I haven't posted anything in the last couple of things. Some rather unhelpful things came up and kept me from being able to write. But I'm back now. I won't put a time table on my next update (since every time I do that I seem to not update for three weeks.) Ok enough for me, on with the digimon!_

_Disclaimer: I NO OWN DIGIMON! (yet)_

_**Last time:**__ The digidestined returned to Tokyo from Kyoto, about to bring the entire team together for the first time in nearly three years, unfortunately it seemed that Beelzemon and the three had different plans. They launched an attack on Tokyo as the digidestined were arriving. Due to the large rain storm that had not only shut down public transportation but also most forms of communication, the digidestined arriving in Tokyo had no idea what was going on. They all split up to go to their separate homes, not knowing the anger the city was in. Tai, Kari, T.K., and Davis all arrived at the Odaiba subway terminal to find it packed with refugees. They immediately jumped into action, heading for the attack. Ethan intercepted them before they could arrive at the main battle, but Davis volunteered to fight him one on one so the others could head to the main battle. Using the power of Faith and Miracles Davis was able to defeat Ethan and headed off to meet with the others._

**Chapter 16: Battle in the City: Matt vs. Xavier**

BurningGreymon led the way through the empty streets of Odaiba, moving steadily through the rain that was covering the entire city. Tai, T.K., and Kari were following him since he seemed to be the only one who could actually figure out where to go in the poor visibility of the rain storm. They would have been completely lost without the digimon leading them.

Tai held his arm in front of his face in an attempt to keep the rain from hitting his eyes, trying to see a little of what they were running into, but he still couldn't see anything.

_Hopefully BurningGreymon doesn't run all of us right into the middle of the main fight…_ Tai thought to himself, and true to his usual luck he finally caught up to his stopped partner, and quickly saw the reason why he was stopped.

Zudomon went flying right across the city block that the group had come across, and Tai immediately saw the reason why. Several Mega level demon digimon were engaged in combat with several digimon that Tai recognized as belonging to the digidestined of Tokyo. Sadly none of them were stronger than a champion level, except Zudomon. That meant Tai was going to have to take on most of those digimon himself, since T.K. and Kari's partners couldn't reach Mega either.

_Ok, don't worry you've beaten this many digimon before, there's absolutely no reason to panic…._

_~break~  
_

"PANIC! EVERYONE PANIC!"

Joe just shook his head as one of the Tokyo digidestined who'd joined up with him, Ken, Cody, and Yolei for the battle started shouting incoherently. He was sadly one of the older of those digidestined, but also one of the least experienced. Luckily one of the others near him grabbed him and pulled him back before he made himself a bigger target.

_This is really something more like Davis or T.K. should be doing…I'm not fit to be a battle commander…_ Joe thought to himself as he glanced back to the battle in question. He actually wasn't doing too badly in his first battle as the leader, considering the fact that his opponents were all Mega or Ultimate level digimon, and his partner was the only Ultimate in their group.

Zudomon had actually been holding his own for the most part, until one of the larger Megas threw him across the street into a building. That had caused the outburst by the other digidestined, since Zudomon was their most powerful fighter at the moment.

_Where are the others…we're getting our butts handed to us…_ Joe thought to himself as most of the champion levels were sent flying away from the attacking digimon.

"Pyro Barrage!"

Joe watched blasts of scalding hot energy blast into the group of attacking digimon, almost in answer to his thoughts earlier. It seems someone had finally gotten here.

~_break~_

"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon sent a steady wave of blasts at the gathered digimon, all of whom Tai recognized as common soldiers in Lucemon's army. Ultimate level Mephistomon and Infermon and Mega level Gulfmon and Diaboromon.

_So I guess that means this is one of Belphamon's groups is the advanced party…_ Tai thought to himself as BurningGreymon continued to attack. Each of the Demon Lords had particular digimon they liked to add to their own personal armies. Beelzemon for example usually had some of the more respectful, dark warrior digimon, such as ChaosGallantmon and Astamon, under his command, while Belphemon associated with some of the lowest and darkest digimon ever created in the digital world, like the digimon in front of him.

"Web Wrecker!" BurningGreymon was hit with a large blast of energy that knocked him to the ground, and Tai snapped out of his thoughts. That was sloppy to allow the Diaboromon to actually get an attack off at all, let alone actually hitting BurningGreymon.

"BurningGreymon!" Kari shouted as the large digimon went down.

"He's fine." Tai said, sparing a glance back to his sister. She could be a distraction, if Tai allowed himself to be distracted by her. "He just needs a little assistance."

Tai knew one of the big reasons the Diaboromon had gotten that attack in was the low visibility caused by the rain. BurningGreymon couldn't see his opponents after they stopped attacking, but they could see him thanks to his attacks. His attacks were more than powerful enough to deal with his opponents, if he could find them. That meant that what he needed right now was a guided attack, and then some close quarter supplemental weapons for BurningGreymon.

That meant cards.

Unfortunately he couldn't pull his deck out and search it without ruining the cards in this rain.

_Gonna have to hope I get lucky…_ Tai thought to himself as he reached down and pulled out a card, not a second after telling Kari BurningGreymon only needed help. He pulled one out, and stole a quick glance at it. _Perfect…_

"Digi-Modify!" Tai shouted, swiping the card he had. "MegaGargomon's Mega Barrage activate!"

BurningGreymon gave a growl of approval as he jumped to his feet. His entire body was encased in green armor, which then proceeded to reveal hundreds of gun and missile ports all over it. This card had been specifically designed by Henry Wong as a gift for Tai when he left. Each of the Tamers had designed a card with their partners Mega forms attacks for Tai and Agumon to use. Those four cards were among Tai and Agumon's favorite, and most powerful, modify cards.

"Mega Barrage!" BurningGreymon shouted, and every one of the ports fired at once, sending projectiles, targeted projectiles that is, right into the group of demon digimon. The explosions were massive, and created several craters in the middle of the block, but it had the exact effect that Tai was hoping for.

It destroyed several of the digimon, completely obliterating the Ultimate levels while the Megas were blown apart before disappearing into data. The rest were injured and scattered, easy pickings for BurningGreymon now.

"Go for it!" Tai said, and BurningGreymon didn't need any more instruction than that. He and Tai had been in dozens of battles like this over the last few years, and both of them knew the parts they were to play.

Tai looked over to Kari and T.K., both of whom were still looking a little shocked.

"You two should digivolve your partners, so they can help with the cleanup." Tai said, referring to finishing off the digimon.

"You…you…just destroyed them, like it was nothing." Kari said, still a little shocked. She knew they had deleted digimon before, and Tai had destroyed several digimon over the last week, but each of them had been directly threatening a digidestined's life, this group hadn't, at least not yet, and he'd just destroyed them.

"It's better than the alternative, which is letting them destroy us." Tai replied, looking at his sister. He'd forgotten all of the inhibitions most of the digidestined had with destroying other digimon. Not only were all digimon reborn in Primary Village, but anyone of the Demon Lord's servants deserved to be deleted for what they did. "They might not have been attacking us yet, but that's because we weren't a threat, our partners were. Don't try and compare these digimon to anything you've ever faced before, except maybe Myotismon and the Dark Masters. These digimon would kill you and everyone in this city for fun if their orders allowed it."

Tai took a breath as he finished speaking, and looked right at his sister, hoping he'd made her understand. It took her a few seconds, but then she nodded, jerkily.

"Ok, good." Tai said, telling himself he'd make sure to talk to her, and make sure he hadn't come across to harshly after the battle was over. The battlefield wasn't a place to do that.

"Gatomon digivolve to!"

"Patamon digivolve to!"

Twin flashes of light came from either side behind him and a second later two Ultimate level angels were flying towards the battle that BurningGreymon was in.

_Ok, now to help BurningGreymon in close combat…_ Tai thought to himself, drawing another card. This one wouldn't help BurningGreymon at all. He tried another, and another, and another. Finally on the 8th try he drew one that should help.

"Digi-Modify! Grademon's twin swords activate!" Tai shouted out, and suddenly BurningGreymon had a pair of swords, one in each arm, and he tore through the remaining demon digimon with ease, while Angewomon took potshots and MagnaAngemon dueled with several of the Ultimate levels.

At this point Joe, Yolei, Cody, and Ken all ran over to them through the rain.

"TAI!" Joe shouted, and Tai's face broke into a smile at the tall blue haired man's shout. These were the four digidestined he hadn't had the chance to see yet, and it looked like he was going to get the chance to now.

"Don't think you've won yet!" A voice shouted, and Tai looked up to see its source. Piedmon stood on one of the flag poles sticking out the side of a building. "Mask's Square!" He shouted, aiming right for Kari and T.K.

"NO!" Tai shouted, running towards the two. He put on his fastest burst of speed and managed to push the two digidestined out of the way. Unfortunately that was all he could do as he was hit by the attack instead, being absorbed into the alternate world instantly.

"Wildfire Tsunami!" A wave of flames flew out and hit Piedmon, sending him flying down the street. "Tai!" BurningGreymon shouted, attempting to run forward. One of the Diaboromon however extended his arm and grabbed a hold of the dragon digimon, holding him in place.

"Excalibur!" MagnaAngemon cut though the arm, but BurningGreymon still couldn't get to the sphere as more of the remaining demon digimon put themselves between him and the sphere.

"GET! OUT! OF! MY! WAY!" BurningGreymon shouted, cutting one of the digimon apart to punctuate each word, but there were to many of them for him to get to Mask's Square.

"Don't worry BurningGreymon! We'll go after him!" Kari shouted out, moving towards the sphere.

"No! Don't!" BurningGreymon shouted out, finally getting slowed down by a pair of Gulfmon. "You don't know what's in there!"

"My brother is in there, and if you think I'm going to sit here and do nothing, then you're crazy!" Kari shouted back before moving forward again. T.K. couldn't just let her go in there by herself, so he stepped forward with her, and in a second the two of them were inside the square.

_I just hope they can handle themselves…_ BurningGreymon thought to himself as more digimon charged him. There seemed to be more than before, which could only mean one thing, they had reinforcements. _I have to hope I can handle myself…_

_~break~  
_

Matt Ishida stood back as Gabumon stepped forward.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Matt?" Gabumon asked, looking back at his partner in the dim emergency lighting.

Matt simply nodded, and Gabumon shrugged, turning back around.

"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon sent a blast of blue fire out and blew out the back of the subway car that he and Matt were in, sending debris down the tunnel.

The two of them had been on their way to Matt's father's apartment, feeling that he would handle Matt being back so soon and the reasons he was back so soon better than his mother. The rain storm had left most of the subways deserted as people didn't want to venture out into the heavy rain. Things had been going fine until all the power had gone out. That had left the two of them stranded on the subway between stations without a way to get out of there.

The car operator had come back to make sure the four other passengers and Matt weren't freaked out, and they'd settled down to wait until the power came back on. The operator had even pulled out a little radio he had to try and get a hold of someone to hurry things up. That's how they'd found out about the attacks.

The power outage hadn't been caused by the massive storm covering Tokyo, it was caused by a group of digimon that were even now attacking the city, and Matt was stuck in a subway. Now Matt couldn't just sit there and do nothing, not anymore at least, so he'd decided that getting off the subway car was his first order of business, which is where Gabumon came in.

The two partners jumped down to the tracks, and Matt pulled out the flashlight that the subway operator had given him when he told him what he was going to do. They'd determined that it would be faster to backtrack to the last station rather than pressing forward to the next station.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Matt?" Gabumon asked again, looking up to his partner. "We don't have any idea what's going to be out there. For all we know the others already have the problem taken care of."

Matt just shook his head. He couldn't fault Gabumon for thinking like that, because up until the last few weeks he'd said pretty much the same exact thing anytime a problem happened in the digital world and the other digidestined had asked for help. It was the logic he used to justify to Gabumon and to himself that he didn't need to go and help the others.

"We can help Gabumon." Matt replied, and took off at a jog down the tunnel. His partner waited a heartbeat, and then took off after him, glad that Matt was continuing to return to helping his friends.

Gabumon hadn't really wanted to sit out. Not only were his friends in trouble, but he also missed fighting sometimes. Most digimon were at least partially designed to fight battles, and going nearly three years without one was far too long. The small battles over the last couple of days had only wet his appetite for a more challenging battle…

_Well there I go, sounding more like Agumon or Veemon…_ Gabumon thought to himself with an inner laugh. He was usually the more docile digimon compared to his best digimon friend Agumon or Veemon. They were usually the ones who would want to get into a fight as soon as possible and would be disappointed to miss one, rather like how Gabumon felt right now.

The two continued towards the station, and almost didn't notice it when they finally got to it.

"Hold on, I think we're here." Matt said, coming to a halt and pointing the flashlight around. They could see the subway station in the light, and Matt immediately climbed out of the tracks onto the platform. Gabumon was close behind him, but paused as he got up. Something didn't feel right to the digimon as he looked out into the darkness.

Matt felt the same way, but Gabumon had the better reaction.

"Down!" He shouted, knocking Matt's legs out so they both fell to the ground. Something swept over the two, and they could feel it ripping apart one of the pillars in the station bare seconds later the destroyed concrete crashed to the ground, with some small parts hitting the two partners.

"What was that?" Gabumon asked in a loud whisper, but both of them sensed whatever it was attacking again and they were forced to move as whatever it was hit where they had been laying.

"Not good." Matt replied as they moved. He had a good guess, but only that.

"Well, this is too unfair. You should have gotten them the first time Slayerdramon, now we have to fight them more fairly." A voice said calmly across the room, and suddenly the entire room lit up. Matt blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light, and then looked up to see someone he'd only seen once before, Xavier.

The Demon Lord's pet human was leaning against the far wall of the station, just behind his fully digivolved partner, Slayerdramon, who had been causing the havoc in the station. Xavier looked right at Matt and stood up off of the wall.

"Well, aren't you going to digivolve your partner?" He asked, his tone coming across as one speaking to an idiot. Matt glared at him, but pulled out his digivice none the less, after all he couldn't do anything unless Gabumon was digivolved first.

"Gabumon warp digivolve to! MetalGarurumon!" The large metal wolf landed in front of Matt, looking right at Slayerdramon, who was standing still as a statue, just in front of Xavier.

The two digimon stared each other down, while the two humans did the same, complete silence filling the station. Matt didn't like this one bit. He didn't know anything about Xavier (Tai had been less than willing to go into detail about his former friends) but Xavier was sure to know plenty about Matt, thanks to Tai.

_Some best friend he is, telling our enemies all about us…_ Matt thought to himself, but just as soon squashed that thought. That was his scared and angry side talking.

_Now that's not fair, Tai thought they were friends. He's always been a trusting guy…_ His more reasonable side reminded him.

Xavier just stood there through Matt's silent exchange, and it was starting to annoy him. It was one thing to be patient, it was another to just sit here when there should be a battle going on here, and there was one going on up above.

"Ok, I've had enough of this!" MetalGarurumon growled, just before jumping forward. He had to stay relatively low to avoid hitting the ceiling, which was going to limit his maneuverability, which mostly came from flight.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon launched a blast of frozen energy right at Slayerdramon, who wouldn't be able to avoid it thanks to the fact that Xavier was standing just behind him.

Matt noticed Xavier make a slight movement with his hand, and then Slayerdramon finally moved, not avoiding the attack, but stepping towards it.

"Tenryu Slash!" Slayerdramon said suddenly, sweeping his flexible sword around and completely cancelling out MetalGarurumon's attack. "Shoryu Slash!" He swept his sword around again, this time unleashing a blast of energy which swept straight through the subway station and caught MetalGarurumon before he could do anything about it.

He crashed to the ground just a few feet in front of Matt, who immediately went to his partner.

"I'm fine…" MetalGarurumon said, rising to his feet. His metal armor seemed to have protected him pretty well from Slayerdramon's attacks. "I can't fight down here; it's too confined for my attacks."

"I know, but he's blocking the only way out of here." Matt replied, looking towards the entrance to the station, on the far side of Xavier, and quite a bit of rubble now.

"There has to be a way to get him out of the way…" MetalGarurumon said while Xavier and Slayerdramon just watched them. Matt looked back at them, and then remembered that Slayerdramon had moved to attack.

"Hey, do you think you could distract Slayerdramon long enough for me to get to Xavier?" Matt asked his partner, who looked at him.

"I think so, why?"

"I'm going to take a page out of Tai's old book." Matt said, rolling up the sleeves of the long sleeved shirt he was wearing. "I'm going to think with my fists, and so is Xavier."

MetalGarurumon growled in approval as he realized what Matt planned to do. The digimon then ran forward, right at Slayerdramon again. "Metal Wolf Snout!" four lasers fired from MetalGarurumon's snouts, and hit Slayerdramon. The attack wasn't very powerful, but it was very fast and hard to block unless you actually had a shield. "Metal Wolf Snout!" MetalGarurumon fired again, earning a short growl out of Slayerdramon.

"Slayerdramon!" Xavier said, loudly, and his partner stiffened, obviously being chastised.

"Metal Wolf Snout!" MetalGarurumon hit Slayerdramon again, and the digimon couldn't help but growl again. Xavier seemed to sense he wouldn't be able to control him for too much longer, and he nodded. Slayerdramon took off at a surprisingly fast sprint, right for MetalGarurumon.

The metal wolf digimon used the pillars and walls (what were left) as leverage and directional changing points as Slayerdramon chased after him. The armored dragon digimon did his best to destroy any and every thing that MetalGarurumon landed on, causing the entire station to be all but destroyed. Even though the wolf like digimon was faster than he was he'd eventually run out of places to run to, and then Slayerdramon would have him.

Xavier watched with satisfaction as he understood exactly what his partner was doing, it was a sound strategy, which is what Xavier would have expected out of him. Slayerdramon had once been undisciplined and didn't bother to think before acting, but Xavier had changed that. He'd disciplined the digimon and trained him until he responded to his commands perfectly, and became the ultimate fighting digimon.

Now all he had to do now was wait for MetalGarurumon to be finished off, and then they could destroy the Ishida boy and be done with one of the more powerful digide….**BAM!**

Xavier's thought process came to a screeching halt as a fist connected hit the side of his face, sending him flailing down to the ground.

"Now that felt pretty damn good." Matt said as he stood over Xavier, who seemed surprised to see him there.

"What are you doing?" He asked the digidestined, which honestly surprised Matt.

"You didn't think I was just going to let you sit there and block my exit did you?" Matt asked, looking at the other human curiously.

"Humans don't fight, that's what digimon are for!" Xavier said, getting to his feet finally.

"Says who?" Matt asked, looking at Xavier curiously. The boy was bleeding a little from the side of his head where he'd hit the ground. "We've been fighting since before digimon were even thought of."

"That doesn't matter. What's the purpose of digimon if not to use them to fight and conquer the world? Humans fighting humans is outdated." Xavier asked, and Matt was instantly disgusted. How could anyone with a digimon partner feel that way about digimon?

"You obviously have no idea what it means to be a human partner of a digimon." Matt said, letting his disgust color his voice.

"Yes I do. IT means training your partner so they are the most efficient fighting machine possible instilling discipline in them so they obey your orders, no matter what." Xavier said, sounding like some teacher who was lecturing a stupid student.

Matt had enough as he finished his smug talk, and he lashed out once more, but this time Xavier avoided the punch with ease. Matt followed through, but Xavier avoided each and every one of his punches.

"I expected more out of you Matt. Now you're acting more like Tai." Xavier said as he avoided another punch. "He'd always rush headfirst into a situation and then try and fight his way out with sheer strength. And just like Tai, you're about to lose." Matt got angrier as Xavier mentioned his friend, and lashed out with his fastest and hardest punch yet, which Xavier once more avoided. Then he hit Matt, once, twice, three times, and knocked him straight onto his back.

Matt could hardly breathe from the force and placement of Xavier's punches. They seemed to disable him completely. Matt then felt something large land behind him, and he turned to see MetalGarurumon there, panting, and looking pretty beat up. Slayerdramon stood opposite of MetalGarurumon, also breathing hard, but hardly damaged.

"MetalGarurumon…" Matt said, as he reached out for his partner. Xavier let out a short laugh while Slayerdramon stood there.

"You should be more emotionally detached Matt." The other human said. "Getting attached to your partner will only cause weakness in battle."

Matt just ignored him, reaching for his best friend, hoping that he was alright.

_Why'd I make him fight again? Why'd I let him go out there against a digimon he couldn't fight, all by himself…?_ _MetalGarurumon, I'm sorry…_ Matt thought to himself as he reached out to him, and finally made contact with his partner. That's when a bright blue light filled the subway, as Xavier shouted in surprise.

Matt was just as surprised, finding himself standing now, and all of the pain gone from his body. MetalGarurumon was up as well, completely healed, and looking at Matt.

"Why'd you say sorry Matt?" He asked, and Matt was confused for a second before he remembered what he'd thought just a second before.

"For sending you out to fight yet another digimon who you couldn't fight down here." Matt said, looking down in shame.

"You don't need to apologize for that Matt. I'm your partner, and your friend. It's my job to fight and protect you." MetalGarurumon said, and Matt felt a small tear forming in his eye. He stepped forward and patted his friend's snout, right where he knew he liked to be patted.

If the wolf digimon could have smile he would have, instead he just looked at his partner.

"Now what do you say we end this fight?" He asked, but Matt shook his head.

"But we can't, not down here. And the only exit is blocked." Matt said, stating the big weakness they now had.

"Well then, why don't we just make a new one?" MetalGarurumon asked, and Matt suddenly laughed.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" He asked, knowing instantly what he was thinking.

"Because I'm obviously the smarter of the two of us." MetalGarurumon said with a laugh. As he finished laughing the light faded and the two of them were standing in the subway once more. Xavier was standing there, holding his arm over his face, but he dropped it as soon as the light faded.

"What the…" He said, for once flabbergasted at the sight before him. "How the…."

He was cut off by the sight of Matt jumping onto the back of MetalGarurumon, once again causing Xavier to be utterly confused, but this time he actually had a comment.

"What are you going to do, fight on his back?" He shouted, earning a grin from Matt.

"You have no idea."

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon shouted, pointing his head straight up. A blast of energy flew from his mouth right into the ceiling of the station, and MetalGarurumon proceeded to blow a new hole to the surface.

Once they reached the surface MetalGarurumon jumped straight out into the sky, letting out a bark of joy, finally getting out of the confinements of the station. After a quick lap around the block MetalGarurumon landed, facing the hole he'd made and dropping Matt off.

This proved to be a good decision as Slayerdramon jumped out of the hole a few seconds later and engaged MetalGarurumon right away. Free of his earlier constraints MetalGarurumon was able to avoid the attacks with ease, hovering in the air out of Slayerdramon's reach.

Matt noticed at this point that Slayerdramon didn't seem to have any ability to fly, picking up on this as the digimon stood there gazing up at MetalGarurumon who was out of his reach.

"What are you waiting for!" A voice called through the rain. Matt turned to see that Xavier emerging from the normal entrance to the subway station. "Using the buildings to get to attack range!"

If Slayerdramon responded to that Matt couldn't see, but he jumped immediately to the side of one of the buildings and started climbing up, attempting to get to the same height as MetalGarurumon.

"I don't think so." MetalGarurumon said as he watched Slayerdramon climb. "Metal Wolf Claw!" He sent a blast of frozen energy at the climbing Slayerdramon, who jumped to an adjacent building to avoid the attack, falling several stories as he did. This cycle continued with Slayerdramon sometimes gaining some height, but mostly falling farther down the buildings.

"I think that's enough." Matt said, watching the battle unfold. "MetalGarurumon, stop playing with him, and let's wrap this up!"

"Right Matt!" MetalGarurumon shouted back, flying a little ways away from Slayerdramon. "Ice Wolf Claw!" Dozens of weapon ports opened up all over MetalGarurumon's body and all of them launched missiles right at Slayerdramon. The large dragon like digimon jumped to avoid the attacks, but unlike the Metal Wolf Claw, these were guided, and tracked Slayerdramon.

He still managed to avoid most of the attack, but several hit him and did two things. First, they obviously hurt the digimon as he shouted in pain and second they froze him to the side of the building.

"Finish it!" Matt shouted, just as Xavier finally moved from where he'd been watching the battle.

"Slayerdramon! NO!"

"Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon launched a massive missile from his belly right at Slayerdramon, who could no longer move to avoid the attack. The missile hit him and literally blew up the entire side of the building he'd been frozen to. Matt and Xavier watched as the entire side of it came crashing down to the ground. Luckily it was an office building that was currently empty so no one but Slayerdramon was injured.

Matt stood there watching just as a shape went flying past him. Xavier ran as fast as he could to where the building had dropped. Matt could just make out a small green shape there in the rubble, which he assumed was the rookie level of Slayerdramon. MetalGarurumon landed next to Matt as they watched Xavier finally show some sort of compassion.

"The others probably still need some help." MetalGarurumon said as they watched Xavier.

"Yea." Matt replied, not taking his eyes off of Xavier. Apparently he was all talk when it came down to the important things with his partner. "Let's go." Matt climbed onto MetalGarurumon's back, and the two took off into the rain, headed for Odaiba.

_Two down and only one to go. Who's going to fight Jane, the leader of the three? And What happened to Tai, Kari, and T.K.? Find out next time on Digimon, Demon Wars._

_Well there we go, another intense one on one battle. Hopefully you enjoyed that. Can you guys guess who's next? Haha. Until next time!_

_**Review Replies:**_

_TheOmegaMan: Please don't mock my typos, it's not nice! And did you really wonder that? I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious myself._

_TaioraWarrior: Maybe not dead, maybe more just outgrown. I said yay a lot because I was super surprised/excited at how much everyone liked my writing. Now I'm just excited so I don't need the yays. I think that all the match ups will be pretty good. Each one will run along the same lines, but should still be good. There probably won't be a Tai/Sora/Jane scene until the sequel, since Jane will be going right after Sora next time, and Tai's a little trapped in an alternate reality. But it'll happen eventually. As for the three…you assume they don't get rescued… _

_LyraXEthan: Thanks! and nice idea, but I've actually got other plans for the Tamers and Data squad in this story, but I think you'll like it when I get there._

_Dark Anbu Knight:Thanks! I am actually thinking about using the X digimon at some point, I just have to figure out how it'll fit in, and expect to see some Xros digimon appearing. I've been looking at some of that stuff and I'll probably borrow some of the digimon they introduced, though most likely as minions._

_The other Guy:How about chapters that do both? You'll have that one next time…and yes, that's why I put no date in writing for this, because I never seem to get it. And I'm sure you're right, though I honestly think that HFWC would make a better TV continuation. I try really hard in that one to keep everyone very in character, while with this one I don't try as hard, and have a good reason for that. Thanks! Davis is one of my favorites, and can't stand pointless Davis bashing (or pointless bashing of any kind really). I don't really see why people do that. I mean, yea, he's not Tai, but he's still pretty freakin awesome in his own way. The only way Tai will stop using BurningGreymon is when Agumon is able to control his Mega form, who I introduced a few chapters ago, and you may also have seen in frontier. I do, but profiles are just more fun, as I'm sure you are now discovering._

_Edasama: Thanks! I hoped it was pretty good, but I didn't really know. _

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Well, mission accomplished for me. That's exactly what I was going for so thanks! and yea, they do seem to specialize in performing miracles, but Davis literally has the power of Miracles, thanks to his Crest…But yea, cheap and very helpful, especially to the writer haha._

_Supershooter: I wasn't really sure, I think you may have pushed me over into using it. Thanks! and yea, he's grown up a little bit. And you should, epic one on one battle, then the grand finally, for this part of Demon Wars._

_Odinson83: I agree with you completely actually. It's probably my favorite thing about his Crest, it allows me to use the power of Miracles to smooth over some inconsistences. Now in this chapter I just borrowed/altered some stuff from the episode Crest of Friendship. I thought it was perfect. Expect something different with Sora though. For Davis and Ethan, Ethan was wining. He had Magnamon pretty much KOed, but then Davis stepped in to save the day. And I never said the Mega wasn't locked in yet either (though I did mention it in one chapter I think it was the one where Tai met with Kari, Davis, and T.K. if you want to go look back at it)._

_Shara Raizel: Thanks! and sorry that I did keep the waiting a little long…Thanks again, and I'm glad you're enjoying it!_


	18. Battle in the City: Sora vs Jane

_Wow, look at this, it's only been about a week…is it possible that I updated this quickly…well since you're reading this, why yes, it is. Anyways, here's the chapter I'm sure many of you have been waiting for…Joe vs Jane!_

_Haha just kidding…I really hope none of you fell for that, but If you did…fail! Ok, enough with me talking, on with the show! Or…er…story._

_**Last Time:**__ Tai, Kari, and T.K. met up with Joe and the other digidestined of Tokyo, and joined in the general battle. That was going well until Piedmon used his Mask's Square attack on Kari and T.K., and Tai pushed them out of the way, getting caught himself. Kari and T.K. went in after him, which may or may not have been a good decision. Meanwhile Matt was attempting to escape a subway when he ran in Xavier, who was just itching for a fight. They duked it out, and after some remembrance of Friendship, Matt and MetalGarurumon were able to win the fight._

_**Disclaimer:**__ You know the drill, I do __**NOT**__ own digimon, just in case anyone thought differently._

**Chapter 17 Battle in the City: Sora vs. Jane**

Kari Kamiya opened her eyes slowly, not remembering exactly what had happened to her just a minute before. She shut her eyes almost immediately after she saw what was around her. It was someplace she'd been before, but someplace she'd hoped to never see covered in fog again.

Kari took a deep breath and opened her eyes once more, revealing the top of the Fuji TV building, looking almost exactly like it had the first time she'd been up there. Parts of the building destroyed, but the scariest part to Kari was the fog that was surrounding the entire building. Odaiba never got fog like that, except for when Myotismon attacked the district.

_Please tell me this is just a dream…That's all this is, it's just a dream…_ Kari pleaded with herself as she slowly got to her feet. She didn't seem to notice the fact that she was shorter than she was used to being, in fact, she was the exact same height she'd been when she'd first become a digidestined, just like the first time she'd been on the roof of this building.

_Where's T.K.?_ Kari thought to herself as she looked around.

"T.K.?" Kari asked, remembering that she'd jumped into whatever it was that Tai had been trapped in by Piedmon. "T.K. where are you?" Kari called again, but instead of hearing the reassuring voice of her boyfriend an all too familiar laugh cackled across the building.

Kari felt herself freeze in place as this laughter filled the near silence of the rooftop.

"Wh…who…who's there?" Kari asked, looking all around her, but there was no response. Kari looked around once more, and then started backing away towards one of the openings on the roof. This was something straight out of one of Kari's nightmares, being back on top of this building where Myotismon had almost killed her and taken over the world.

The cackle of laughter sounded again, filling up the entire rooftop, and freezing Kari in place. She knew that laughter. It haunted her nightmares at times and was one of the few things she admitted to herself that she was afraid of. Just in front of Kari a portion of the floor turned jet black, and a shape started rising out of the blackness.

It was roughly shaped like a tall man, but Kari knew instantly that it was not a man. It was the one digimon that still haunted her nightmares to this day…Myotismon. The form rising out of the blackness didn't really take a specific shape though, just holding the rough approximation of Myotismon that Kari remembered. It was more like a shadow than anything else.

"Well, what do we have here? A little girl all by herself." The shadow said in the exact voice that Kari remembered him having.

Kari backed away from the shape, her entire body shaking as the shadow stepped towards her.

"Come here little digidestined, it's time to finish what I started ten years ago." The shadow said stepping towards her again. Kari just fell backwards as she tried to keep back peddling. The shadow laughed and stepped closer to her.

"Gatomon, where are you?" Kari asked just as the shadow reached her. As the shadow reached for her though, an intense pink light erupted from Kari's chest, engulfing her, and scattering the shadow. Kari looked around at her now completely pink surroundings and was quite surprised.

"What's going on?" Kari asked the light around her, and was surprised when a voice that sounded just like Angewomon replied.

"You called for your partner Kari, and this was the only way to respond." The voice said, and Kari was if anything more confused.

"I'm not sure I understand." Kari replied, and the voice responded with a laugh.

"Kari, you need to stop living in this nightmare." The voice said instead of trying to answer her question. "This is what is going on Kari. Piedmon is forcing you to relive on of your worst nightmares, and it's trapping you here."

"Nightmare?" Kari asked, suddenly remembering Matt talking about how he'd met up with Tai. He'd talked about some sort of nightmare world that he'd been trapped in.

"Yes Kari, a nightmare." The voice replied, "Haven't you noticed what you look like?"

Kari was confused for a second before looking down. She finally noticed that she looked like she was eight years old, and was even wearing her old whistle.

"This isn't what I'm supposed to look like." Kari said, and almost before her eyes her body changed, growing into how she remembered it being, complete with her own clothes. "How did that happen?"

"This is a world of illusions Kari, the only way it has power over you is if you let it and your nightmares have power over you." The voice replied once more, and Kari nodded, finally figuring out what she had to do. She knew exactly how to deal with her fears, she'd meet them head on, just like her brother had taught her.

"Thank you…" Kari said, looking towards where the Myotismon shadow had been a second before, but a question still burned in her mind. "Who are you?" She asked, and the voice laughed again.

"Isn't it obvious? The biggest link between you and Gatomon." The voice replied, but that just left Kari more confused. "I'm your Crest." With that the light faded out, and Kari was standing before the Myotismon shadow, which didn't seem quite so tall and imposing, especially since she was taller.

"Ah there you are." Myotismon said, looking at her. "Where were we?"

"You were just leaving." Kari said, and another flash of pink light revealed a hovering Angewomon. Her partner was not a shadow like Myotismon, but rather just how she remembered her.

"NO, Not her!" Myotismon shouted out, just before he and the entire roof top exploded into smoke leaving her in a blank grey space. Kari looked around, searching for either T.K. or Tai, but it was T.K. who found her first.

"Kari!" He exclaimed, and Kari turned as he rushed forward and grabbed her in a big hug. "Are you ok?" He asked after a few seconds.

"Yea, I think so." Kari replied. "This place, it's horrible."

"I know." T.K. replied, "It's like it shows us our worst nightmares…"

"That's exactly what it does." Kari replied, and then told T.K. what she had been told by Matt and Tai.

"Well that explains why Devimon was there…" T.K. mumbled to himself, and then looked at her. "Something weird happened with my Crest while I was in there…"

"The same thing happened to me." Kari replied, and they both looked to where there was still a cloud of swirling smoke, forming a sort of sphere. "I think our Crests bring out the best traits in us and can help us to get out of here." T.K. nodded as Kari said that. "And I think that means that Tai's in trouble."

"What?" T.K. asked, looking back at Kari from the smoke ball.

"He's not the same as he was." Kari said, looking at the ball of smoke. "I mean, more than just being gone for three years different. He's lost something, that thing that made him Tai, and it just might be the Courage to activate his Crest."

"How can you say that? He's dived into a dozen different situations that could have gotten him killed in the last few weeks." T.K. said as they both looked at the smoke. "He's just as courageous as he's always been."

"Is he really?" Kari asked, turning to T.K. "Has he been just as courageous about everything? I'm not saying he's lost the courage to fight, but maybe that's just part of the Courage he has. What if he's lost the other part of that Courage?"

T.K. looked at her, and had to concede that she had a point. There'd been something different about Tai ever since he'd been back, and it had been more than just how the years had changed him, something about his base personality that had changed.

"Either way, it doesn't matter, I'm going in after him." Kari said, stepping forward. T.K. couldn't let her go in there by herself, so he stepped forward as well. As Kari and T.K. stepped forward a Pink and Yellow light engulfed each of them, and they pushed through the smoke.

What greeted the two of them was a scene almost out of hell itself. They could see Tai standing in front of them, staring forward into the source of the hell. Three beings, humans from the looks of them, were standing opposite of him. Behind them a large digimon was destroying all of the surrounding area. Kari could just make out a few details about it, and was honestly reminded vaguely of WarGreymon, though he was covered in thick armor and carried a sword, as she looked at the digimon causing havoc.

She tore her eyes away from the digimon to look at Tai. He was just standing there, staring at the group of humans (Kari was pretty sure she knew their identities) a tear sliding down his cheek as he did. As Kari stepped closer she could barely make out a whispering noise that sounded like voices.

The half twilight that filled the world lent an orange tone to everything around, but as Kari and T.K. stepped closer to Tai, his face was illuminated by the pink and yellow lights that were coming off of them.

"Tai?" Kari asked, as T.K. stood back, watching her. "Tai can you hear me?" Tai stared straight ahead for a second before turning to look at Kari.

"I figured it would only be a matter of time before you guys started showing up…" Tai said, looking at Kari. "I don't know why it's you first Kari, but I'm sure the others will be right behind you."

Kari was confused for a minute, and then what he was talking about came to her.

_He thinks I'm part of the illusion!_ Kari thought to herself, and reached out for her older brother.

"No Tai, it's really me!" Kari said, and when she touched him she was once more surrounded by the pink light of her Crest, only this time Tai was with her.

"What the…where am I?" Tai asked, looking around and seeming to notice that his surroundings were different. "Kari?"

"Hey big brother." Kari replied, smiling tentatively at her brother.

"What's going on?" He asked, seemingly completely confused.

"You're living out a nightmare Tai." Kari said, looking at him. "It's that nightmare world of Piedmon's."

"Nightmare world…" Tai started to say, and then snapped his finger. "You mean Mask's Square."

"Sure, whatever it's called." Kari replied, and Tai looked around once more.

"I don't remember it ever being covered in pink light like this." He said, and Kari surprised herself and giggled a little.

"That's because my Crest is protecting us right now." Kari said, and Tai nodded.

"That makes sense." He said, looking around them both. "That's how I was able to escape from Mask's Square the other times I've gotten trapped here, using my Crest."

"Then why haven't you already escaped?" Kari asked softly, knowing this would be one of the best moments to try and help her brother. IT might not have been the best timing, but he couldn't avoid the topic right now, not if he wanted to escape.

"I…I don't know." Tai said, and Kari looked at him intently, knowing when he was lying easily.

"You're lying Tai." She said, and he just kept looking down. "I think you know exactly why you can't use your Crest to get out of here."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tai replied, and Kari sighed. He was going to be stubborn about this then.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think. I think you still have most of your old courage, but you've lost one important part of it." Kari said, looking at her older brother, who was uncharacteristically looking anywhere but at her. "I think you've lost the Courage to admit to yourself that you got pretty messed up, and to ask for help from the people around you."

Tai looked down still, and Kari floated herself up towards him.

"Tai, you're the most Courageous person I know." Kari told him, and he did a sort of half snort at that comment. "You are. You just need to remember that you can trust us, and that you can trust yourself." Kari said, rapping him up into a hug. "Trust in yourself and your friends are two of the biggest parts of your courage. You need to trust in yourself again."

"I just don't know if I can…" Tai said, pulling Kari tighter into the hug. "How can I put myself into that sort of situation again?"

"If you don't Tai, you're going to go through life real lonely." Kari said, and she pulled a little away from him. "I can't promise that you'll never be hurt again, but you'll never be happy unless you trust others again. Anyways you have eleven friends who will never, ever betray you like that, and you can always count on them."

Kari didn't know if any of this was getting through to her older brother as they floated there, but she hoped beyond anything that it would. The two floated a little ways away from each other, and Tai finally looked down to his little sister.

"Ok Kari, you're right." He said, looking at her and taking a deep breath. "I've got some problems that I don't know how to get over, will you help me with them?" An orange light grew steadily brighter as he spoke, and Kari smiled and nodded at her older brother. His face broke out into a huge smile as she nodded, and suddenly a massive orange light burst out from him, pushing the edges of the pink cloud they were in to the limit.

They were now standing in the plain, the three standing there, but fading as the light from Tai grew brighter. The monster terrorizing the background was gone, as were most of the fires, and all of the destruction. Kari watched Tai as the light grew more intense, and was surprised to see the light take on the same shape as the digimon that had been going on a rampage before, only with Tai at its center this time.

The light around Tai suddenly burst, sending the entire would of smoke outward, and even breaking the Mask's Square into thousands of pieces. Kari landed on one side of Tai with T.K. on his other side, in the middle of the rain storm, and looked around her in amazement.

All of the other digidestined were standing around them, though none of them were currently looking at them. All of them were looking towards Sora, who was standing between them and someone Kari really wanted to hit, Jane.

~Earlier~

Sora Takenouchi and Mimi Tachikawa both piled into the apartment that Mimi stayed at when they were on break in Tokyo. It was too big of a hassle for Mimi to go back to America for every little break, so her parents had gotten her a small apartment in Tokyo for her use (hassle doesn't necessarily translate into costing too much). She'd told her parents that she could just stay with some of her old friends, but they'd insisted she have her own place to stay, which was working out decently now that her school was blown up.

"That rain ruined my hair!" Mimi exclaimed, as the bathroom had been her first stop after entering the apartment.

"It's not like you exactly had the best hair to start off with Mimi, I mean we were travelling on a train for nearly three straight days." Sora replied to her friend as she looked in the kitchen for something to make the two of them for dinner.

"HHmmm, I still really don't like this storm." Mimi replied, coming out of the bathroom to sit in the cramped living room, and turning on the television. "There's just something weird about it."

"I know exactly what you mean." Sora replied, thinking back to the sinking feeling that had followed her for the last day. She picked up the sandwiches she'd made for her and Mimi and went into the living room as well.

"Thanks." Mimi said, taking the plate as Sora offered it to her. She turned to her friend with a smile, finally intent on getting some more information from her friend about how things were between her and a certain brown haired young man who'd just returned from the dead. "So Sora, what's up with you and Tai?"

Sora seemed not to notice Mimi's question, but was instead staring at the television. Mimi sighed and looked to see what was so distracting to Sora, and gasped as she saw what they were talking about.

"Odaiba is once more under attack by large monsters, known to the world as digimon. Currently there seems to be no stopping the attacking digimon, though a small group of children and teenagers is currently trying to slow them down." The news anchor said to his audience. Behind him were several pictures of the rain drenched streets being ripped to pieces by several digimon Mimi didn't recognize.

"Oh my…" Mimi said as she looked at the pictures.

"The army is attempting to enter the area, but with all of the roads almost completely destroyed by the rain their progress is slow." The anchor finished saying, and Sora turned the TV off.

"We have to go there." She said, and Mimi nodded. There might have been another time that she hesitated, but she knew exactly who those children and teenagers were going to be.

"How are we going to get there though?" Palmon asked, looking at the two digidestined. "All the roads are closed, and the subway would take to long." That stopped both girls in their tracks, but Biyomon quickly jumped forward.

"I can get us there." She said, looking at her three friends.

"Are you sure B?" Sora asked, and the pink bird nodded.

"As Phonixmon I can get us there." Biyomon said, and the other three occupants of the apartment nodded.

They headed out the door and down to the first floor. Once outside Sora pulled out her digivice, and pointed it right at Biyomon.

"Biyomon warp digivolve to!" Biyomon was incased in a bright sphere of light, and emerged as a giant golden bird. "Phonixmon!" The other three wasted no time climbing up onto her back, and Phonixmon beat her wings to rise up into the storm.

Sora, Mimi, and Palmon all held on for dear life as the winds of the storm picked up, and they could barely stay where they were.

"Crimson light!" Phonixmon shouted, and was surrounded by a red aura, which seemed to stop the wind and rain before it hit her. "There, that should make travelling slightly easier." The large digimon said, earning nods from her passengers.

They flew quickly across Tokyo, heading right for Sora and Mimi's old home district of Odaiba. The flight was fairly short, since Mimi hadn't wanted to live to far away from her old home, and before long they were swooping low over the Fuji TV building.

"Where are they?" Mimi asked as Phonixmon circled over the Fuji TV building.

"I don't see any sort of battle…" Phonixmon replied, looking down below her.

"Wait, are you telling me that the one time we don't know for sure where the bad guys are attacking, they aren't attacking the Fuji TV building?" Mimi asked, exasperation seeping into her voice. Just then a series of flashes light up the area, and all of them turned towards the source.

They could see a fairly constant series of flashes coming from between some of the buildings not too far from where they were hovering.

"That looks like it might be what we're looking for." Sora said, and Phonixmon took off, flying right towards the flashes. They flashed over the buildings, and Phonixmon slowed down as thy finally came into view of the street below.

They could make out several shapes firing energy blasts at each other from two distinctive sides.

"Looks like we found our battle." Mimi said as Phonixmon swooped around to get a better look. "There's Joe and Zudomon!" Mimi added as they got a better look at the two sides.

Sora had noticed the side that the digidestined were on as well. BurningGreymon was at the center of it, sending constant streams of energy blasts down towards the other side, supported on either side by Angewomon and MagnaAngemon. Zudomon and a group of champions made up the rest of the digidestined's group. They didn't look like they were doing too great, barely holding the barriers they had made out of wrecked cars and parts of the street.

"Phonixmon, get us down there!" Sora exclaimed, and her partner responded by diving down behind the digidestined's lines. As they landed, BurningGreymon turned towards them, his arms extended and the powerful looking blasters on them were already aimed at them before they could get a word out.

"Sora, Phonixmon?" He asked as he figured out who he was aiming at. The two cannons on his arms flipped around as he lowered his arms.

"Sorry we're late!" Was all that Sora replied as she, Mimi, and Palmon piled off of Phonixmon. "We only just heard about the attacks!"

"Hey, what about us! We're here to!" Mimi shouted at the large digimon.

"Hi Mimi." BurningGreymon replied sheepishly, just before several energy blasts flew over all of their heads.

"They're charging!" Zudomon shouted from where he was holding with some of the Champion level digimon.

BurningGreymon turned immediately away from the two girls, his arm cannons swinging back to face down the length of his arm.

"Pyro Barrage!" He shouted, his arms immediately discharging powerful blasts of solar energy that took the two digimon that had been charging up the pile of rubble he'd been using for cover and deleted them there.

"Phonixmon!" Sora shouted back to her partner, who rose into the air seconds after her partner shouted.

"Crimson Flame!" Phonixmon shot out bursts of flame, each one hitting one of the digimon that was charging the digidestined's position. Combined with the blasts of energy that were constantly flying out from BurningGreymon with precision accuracy, the charging digimon were sent reeling back to their own pile of rubble.

"Alright!" Joe shouted as the digidestined finally seemed to have the upper hand.

"Ice Wolf Claw!" Dozens of missiles hit the lines of rubble that the demon digimon had just retreated behind, announcing the arrival of Matt and MetalGarurumon. The two of them landed between the two opposing groups, facing towards the demon digimon's lines.

"Alright, up and at 'em! BurningGreymon shouted to the other digimon, and all of them followed the dragon like digimon as he vaulted the pile of rubble near him, and charged across the street.

Sora however was a little confused. Why was Joe the only member of the original digidestined with this group. Ken, Yolei, and Cody were supposed to be with him, and they were, but where were Tai, T.K., and Kari?

"Joe!" Sora called out as she grabbed Joe's arm, and Palmon digivolved and went after the charging digidestined digimon.

"Sora?" Joe asked as the red haired girl grabbed is arm.

"Where are Tai, T.K., and Kari?" She asked, and she could see Joe's eyes widen even through the rain. "Joe?" Sora asked again, and he pointed towards a black sphere that was sitting in the middle of the road.

"They're in there." Joe said as he pointed towards the ball.

"Wha…what?" Sora asked, not knowing how the three of them could be in a black ball in the middle of the street.

"A Piedmon tried to attack T.K. and Kari, and Tai knocked them out of the way, getting hit instead." Joe started to explain. "He disappeared into that ball, and then Kari and T.K. went after him."

Sora was if anything more confused now, but she figured she'd just go with it for right now. She had to trust that T.K., Kari, and, especially, Tai knew what they were doing.

"RAGE OF WYVERN!" A loud voice shouted, just before a dragon shaped something crashed into the middle of demon digimon's line, where all the digidestined's digimon were busy taking it to aforementioned demon digimon. They were thrown back from the area, most of them dedigivolving as they flew backwards. BurningGreymon was the only one able to retain his form, and caught Matt in the air before the blond was able to be thrown clear across street.

BurningGreymon took most of the impact, crashing all the way back into the building behind them.

"Pitiful, just pitiful." A voice called from above them, and all the digidestined turned to see Dynasmon hovering a little ways above the demon digimon's position. Jane was standing on her partners shoulder, looking down at the digidestined. "All of your digimon taken out in one shot…this will be easier than I thought."

"Why that little…" Sora started muttering angrily, stepping forward from the rest of the digidestined, brushing Joe off as he tried to stop her. "Hey! You!" Sora shouted up at Jane, who turned to look down.

"Oh look Dynasmon, it's the girl who broke Tai's heart and made him vulnerable to me." Jane said with a smile, calculating that comment would work perfectly for getting under Sora's skin, which it did easily.

"Why you…" Sora shouted up at Jane who just kept laughing. "Laugh at this! Phonixmon!"

"Crimson Flame!" A fireball flew down from above Dynasmon, hitting the Royal Knight, and sent him tumbling down towards the ground. Dynasmon flared his wings before hitting the ground, managing a controlled landing rather than a crash.

Jane glared at Sora, who had a smirk on her face as Jane was obviously caught completely off guard by Phonixmon.

"Dynasmon, take care of red's little birdy." Jane said, jumping off of Dynasmon's shoulder, "I'll deal with her."

Dynasmon half bowed before jumping into the air after Phonixmon, who simply sent the knight crashing to the ground once more with another attack. Dynasmon launched himself a second time, this time attacking as he rose from the ground, forcing Phonixmon to avoid his attack rather than attack him, and allowing him into the sky.

Meanwhile Jane was enacting the other part of her plan for facing Sora, neutralizing Sora. She knew that each of the digidestined's digimon were powered by their Crests (the twisted little devices that had kept her Lord Lucemon out of this world for too long) and that if she could possible corrupt or disrupt the trait that powered the Crest, the digimon would lose power, and Dynasmon could win easily.

Tai had told her more than enough about his relationship with Sora for Jane to understand it perfectly, and she had recognized the looks that Sora had given Tai when they'd fought in Kyoto.

_She has it for him now, three years after he loved her…and I'm going to use that to crush her._ Jane thought to herself as she stepped closer to Sora, a little ways away from the center of the street.

Sora for her part just glared at Jane. Right in front of her was the person who had used Tai and hurt him more than anyone else in the world could. She had to pay, somehow, for what she'd done to Tai.

_If only I had a soccer ball handy…_ Sora thought to herself, imagining a soccer ball shaped implant crushing Jane's smirking face.

Sora was especially surprised when Jane stopped a few paces in front of her, and held out a hand.

Sora looked at the pink haired girl, who just smirked right at her.

"Wha…" Sora started to ask, but Jane just smiled, and cut her off.

"I wanted to shake your hand Sora." Jane said, her smile still plastered on her face. "Didn't you hear what I said up there?" Jane gestured up to the sky. "You're the reason it was so easy to manipulate Tai. Without your expert ground work I never would have been able to get him to conquer an entire world for me." Jane laughed at the last part, and Sora shook her head, not able to believe the other girl.

"No, you're wrong!" Sora shouted, and Jane just laughed some more.

"How could you know? You know how boring it was to hear him talk about you?" Jane asked, "It was so boring, until you got him really relaxed, and he thought he was alone with me, and then he told me how you broke his heart and went for his best friend instead."

Sora just shook her head once more, but inside her a part of her was telling her that Jane was right. This was the same part that always berated her about how she'd missed her opportunity with Tai.

"I have to hand it to you Sora, you sure do know how to make a guy's life miserable." Jane said, laughing again. "I've always thought of myself as an expert at breaking guys down, but you broke Tai down like it was no problem. I'll have to remember that formula of yours for the future." Jane laughed again, a sound that Sora was starting to hate, but she couldn't help but agree with her.

_She's right…as much as I try to deny it, she's right. I did that to Tai, even if it was unintentional, or I didn't really know what I wanted, I still did it. I set Tai up for all of this…._ Sora thought to herself as a sudden gush of wind behind her pushed her slightly forward. Jane seemed to have been hit by the same thing, but she ignored it, instead continuing her verbal attack on Sora.

"Maybe I should take lessons from you," Jane laughed again, but was cut off this time.

"Why would you want to do that Jane?" An all too familiar voce asked from behind Sora, who quickly turned to see Tai standing behind her, the ball gone. Kari and T.K. were standing just behind him. "I mean, then you might actually have some good qualities going for you."

"WHAT?" Jane shouted, her cool lost at the very sight of Tai standing there behind Sora.

"Well, Sora's actually nice, unlike you. She takes care of her friends, unlike you, who only manipulates them." Tai said, looking at her, and then he smiled a grin the digidestined hadn't seen in years, and Jane had thought she'd wiped away from him forever, his big lopsided grin. "And unlike you Sora's not a bitch, so you could learn how to do that to."

Sora held back a giggle as Tai said that, surprising herself. Jane just sputtered into incoherence as Tai started laughing at her.

"Man, I've wanted to say that for a long time." Tai said as he walked up to Sora, who proceeded to poke him in the ribs. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You shouldn't call people names." Sora said, and Tai, to his and Sora's surprise just smiled at her.

"Really?" He asked, and Sora shrugged.

"Fine, I'll make an exception this one time." Sora said, pretending to pout, just as she would when Tai would force her to agree with him. Tai's smile stayed big for a minute until Jane's fuming broke through their little moment. His face returned to its now normal neutral expression, and he looked over to Jane.

"I think I've had about enough of you." Tai said, looking right at her, and Sora nodded her head.

"I agree."

"Starlight Explosion!" Up above them a brilliant flash of light lit the cloud covered sky, brightening the entire street until it was bright as day. Something crashed behind Jane, causing the entire ground to shake. Seconds later Phonixmon landed behind the digidestined.

"Phonixmon!" Sora exclaimed as her partner landed. She was pretty beat up, but she was still on her feet. "Are you alright?"

"I am now." The great bird replied. "Dynasmon was winning the battle for a while, but then I felt a great strength come over me and I was able to defeat him."

Sora nodded, and glanced to the side, noticing that Tai was looking at her. "What?"

"You realize what that power was right?" He asked a small smile on his face. Sora shook her head, and he smiled again. "It was your Crest, which I guess completely answers the little question about how you really feel about me…"

Sora suddenly found that the ground was much more interesting than Tai was, and she was eternally grateful that it was dark so he couldn't see her face.

Before he could say anything else to torment her however, a bright green light lit up the entire street, drawing everyone's attention. Jane had slunk off into the rubble somewhere, and was nowhere to be seen, but even if she had none of the digidestined would have been looking at her. All of them were focused on the light.

"What is that?" Joe asked, looking at the light.

"A digital gate." Tai replied, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he stared at the portal. Nothing good could come from this portal, Tai knew that for sure.

~END CHAPTER~

_Uh oh…what could come out of this digital gate? What could be worse than fighting each one of the three? I guess you'll have to wait until next time to find out! Hehehe, I know I'm evil lol._

_So in other big events…This story has reached 100,000 words, and I've officially reached 300,000 archived words…which is kinda AWSOME! I know most of you probably are like whatever, just post the next 5000 for this story, but I feel pretty accomplished. Pretty good for just starting in August…anyways, I'll bragging now and get on to my review replies…_

_**Review Replies:**_

_LyraXEthan: Hehe, was there any doubt of that happening?_

_Odinson83: Hope that answers your question, as well as how Tai managed to escape Mask's square the first few times he went in._

_Dark Anbu Knight: Thanks! Hope you liked this one as well!_

_The other Guy: Sigh…this is the first time I'm actually sad you've left a long review…I want to go to sleep! Oh well, I can sleep when I'm dead…though I think you should say for me to aim for long delays in updates more often, it motivates me to write more. Three years fighting is one big part, (mostly on the dedigivolving part) he beats the more powerful digimon thanks to the modify cards he has. If it was on my tier system, I'd say he's a high upper Ultimate, and with the power up cards he goes up to a high middle mega, which is pretty good. And the Tokyo digidestined are the other people in Tokyo who got digivices (I mean like all those little kids oikawa kidnapped…) look up the seven demon lords for Belphemon. I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with all seven…they are the main bad guys after all…And I plan to do a story like that, do you have something to look forward to! Thanks for the confidence. We'll find out soonish how that works. And yea, I always want to address that point, because it's so dumb of them…and I just skipped the other digivolving because honestly, I wasn't going to waste everyone's time with the digivolve to Angemon digivolve to Magnaangemon…you know? And yea, he's wondering about Matt's change of heart, and offering him an easy out, and testing him, all at once. Yea…the whole ceiling collapsing on everyone would have been…counterproductive to say the least. Just because he lets his buddy do the fighting doesn't mean Xavier isn't trained. I envision him as sort of a rich snob, who does a little of everything. Like martial arts. And EmperorGreymon wasn't a dark digivolution, he was an uncontrolled digivolution. There's a difference._

_TaioraWarrior: Thanks! thanks again, I liked the fight myself. and it was. And sequels are good/I want more stories up, for awesomeness! And who said you could call a truce!_

_HikariNoTenshi-San: Something like that, but what was matt going to do? Killing people isn't exactly the digidestined's MO. Thanks! and hope I did!_

_Shara Raizel: Thanks! I've actually never been a huge fan of his, though he's grown on me more recently. And I'm a huge Matt fan myself (despite Toei's stupidity in making Sorato) Thanks and hopefully everything was a s good as you hoped!_

_T. Riyanto: thanks!_

_digimonfan18: Thanks! and I don't think it's completely heartless. I always thought the fear of destroying digimon in 02 was a little misplaced. I mean, their data just gets rearranged, so it's not like they are really getting destroyed. Thanks again!_

_Phantomgirl96: thanks! I'm glad you like!_

_Supershooter: Thanks! and in tamers, Beelzemon is both. At times good and at times bad, (mostly good though) but this isn't the same Beelzemon. This is one of the seven demon lords, and he's pretty bad (probably the most good of the seven, but still really bad)_

_TheOmegaMan: I was really thinking about not review replying you, just to spite your last second review, but I'm not that mean/you reviewed and that'd be rude. So onto you're review. Thanks! longer chapters with fewer of them does mean less reviews, but I think I'm doing pretty good for myself. Thanks again!_


	19. Beelzemon

_Well it's time again for another update, so everyone be happy for that! Yay! Anyone? Ok, I get it, you want me to get on with the story…_

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own digimon, this time._

_**Last Time:**__ Kari and T.K. were sucked into the alternate world of Mask's Square after Tai, who'd been trapped there saving the two of them from getting trapped there (which seems to be kinda dumb on someone's part. I mean, Tai gets trapped there to save TK and Kari, only to have them go into the world on their own…anyways, moving on). They manage to escape using the power of their Crests, and then Kari helps Tai reactivate his Crest, freeing him as well. They emerge into the middle of a heated battle between Sora and Jane, which had been going on for a little while. And now, on with the story. (Yes I know that's not exactly where the chapter ended, but trust me and just go with it.)_

**Chapter 18 Beelzemon**

The being known to the digidestined as Gennai stood in the center of an ancient room, waiting for those he was supposed to meet. Strange things had been happening in the digital world for the last several weeks, things that were easily explained, except for the fact that the explanation for them must be impossible.

_Not that something being impossible has ever stopped it from happening in the digital world._ Gennai thought to himself with a knowing smile. He had long ago learned that a certain cheer was needed when dealing with the digital world as it continued to do the impossible all around him.

Take this room for example. It wasn't originally part of the structure of the building, but it had one day appeared in the very center of the central meeting place of the Harmonious Ones, the Digimon Sovereigns.

The room in question happened to be the Crest Room. Spread out around Gennai in a perfect circle were ten glowing symbols, matching the symbols of the Crests possessed by the digidestined. As each Crest was powered by its bearer's inner trait, so to were the lights of the symbols in the room powered by those same traits. If one of the Chosen who possessed the Crest were to lose the trait, either from themselves or through death then the corresponding light in the room would go out.

That at least was how Gennai now knew it worked. The events of the last year had done more for unlocking the secrets of this room than the previous hundred had. It had started when the light of the Crest of Courage had gone out. The light had continued to burn after the digidestined's encounter with Parallelmon, telling Gennai that the Bearer of Courage was indeed still alive.

He'd hated having to keep that fact, and the information about Parallelmon, a secret from the digidestined, especially after observing their sorrow for their lost friend and leader. Unfortunately that had not been his decision to make. The Sovereigns had long known of the alternate dimensions that were accessible through the digital world, and the fact that Parallelmon somehow had the ability to travel to them.

It was one of their most closely guarded secrets, and their greatest shame. The Sovereigns had learned of the alternative planes soon after they formed, and for a time ruled over all of them as they did the original digital world. They connected all of the worlds together through a single plane, which they called their own plane, the Sovereign's plane.

After several years of peace Apocalymon made his appearance, and the Dark Masters imprisoned the Sovereigns, sealing them away so that they could rule the digital world. They were able to seal off the other dimension before their demise however, attempting to protect the other dimensions from the Dark Masters cruel reign.

When the digidestined finally defeated the Dark Masters and Apocalymon the Sovereign's had been released from their imprisonment they'd expected things to go back to normal, across all the dimensions. Unfortunately things weren't quite the way they had been left.

In the absence of the Sovereigns to provide order in the myriad digital worlds the worlds had mostly dissolved into disorder. Where once almost exact copies of the digital world had existed now each of the worlds was as different from the original digital world as it was from the human world. The chaos that was running rampant throughout the worlds was so widespread it was almost impossible to stop. The Sovereigns had tried at one time or another to stop the Chaos in the other worlds, (most notably three years past when they had almost been destroyed by the D-Reaper program) but they had always failed.

In addition to these worlds filled with chaos a small number had developed new, powerful digimon to rule over them. The Olympus Twelve and the three Celestial digimon were two examples of these digimon, and the Sovereigns had decided to leave well enough alone. Those worlds were doing fine on their own, and the Sovereigns did not feel the need to interfere with the worlds that were at peace on their own.

They unfortunately overlooked one world that was ordered under the rule of a group of digimon, but not peacefully so. These digimon were the Seven Demon Lords, digimon who gained their power the same way that the digidestined had, through Crests. The Seven Demon Lords had each come to embody one of the seven greatest human vices, gaining power from them even as the digidestined had gained power from the best human traits.

The Demon Lords had been aware of the Sovereign's return from imprisonment, and started an attempt to remove them from power. They weren't nearly powerful enough to challenge the Sovereigns and the digidestined in direct combat, so they instead attempted to attack them indirectly. They introduced a virus into the human internet, and it attacked a digiegg that happened to be growing there at the time. The virus nearly succeeded in destroying the digidestined, and put the Sovereigns on their guard.

Gennai started pacing as he continued going over the details of the Sovereign's dealing with the other dimensions, as he came to his least favorite part.

After the Diaboromon incident, Gennai had urged the Sovereigns to tell the digidestined about the origin of the virus, and take action against the Demon Lords. Sadly the Sovereigns had preferred a more defensive approach, deciding to seal the original digital world from access by all outside universes. They couldn't do it alone, so they'd had Gennai summon the digidestined. He'd been ordered to tell them that they needed to give up their Crests in order to release the powers that protected the digital world. In reality, the power of their Crests had been used to form a new, impenetrable barrier between the original digital world and all the others.

Gennai had hated not telling the whole truth to the digidestined in order to get their Crest's power, but the Sovereigns felt that it was the best way to protect them and the digital world. Azulongmon had even told the digidestined that their Crests had released him and his fellow Sovereigns four years later when they encountered him to keep the lie running.

_Sadly that wasn't the last lie I had to tell the digidestined._ Gennai thought with a pang. In the aftermath of the Parallelmon battle in the real world, Gennai had come here, to the Crest Room, and found that the Crest of Courage still burned with power on the wall.

Gennai had been overwhelmed with joy, for he had come to care for each and every one of the original twelve digidestined a great deal, and the apparent death of the Bearer of Courage had hit him hard. To see proof that the Bearer of Courage was still alive had been uplifting, and he'd wanted to travel straight to the human world to tell the other digidestined, but the Sovereigns had stopped him.

They had told him that there was no way to retrieve the Bearer of Courage and so he should not get the digidestined's hoped up. In all likelihood he would never be able to defeat the barrier surrounding the original digital world to return to it, even if he found a way to travel between the worlds.

The obedience that had been programmed into Gennai kicked in as the Sovereigns ordered him to not inform the digidestined of this discovery. He'd even been able to accept the fact when he thought about it logically, but he still felt that withholding that information from the digidestined was the worst thing he'd ever done in his long existence.

Gennai paced through the room once more. The ones he had summoned were taking longer to arrive than he had anticipated, and his trip down his memories continued as he faced the Crest of Faith.

When the Bearer of Faith had reformed the Crest of Faith during a desperate battle, he had shown Gennai once more exactly how resilient the digidestined were. The Sovereigns had decided that reforming the Crest of Faith wouldn't be necessary after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, and the fact that the Bearer of Faith had still managed to do it without the assistance of the Sovereigns showed the resilience of the digidestined.

He'd been very happy to share the information he had about the Crest with Izzy when he'd asked, but in the middle of his message he'd been jammed. Gennai still didn't know exactly what had caused it, despite devoting almost all of his time since then to searching for the source of the jamming he hadn't come any closer to discovering the source. Until now.

Around Gennai the original eight Crests started to glow, before each pair released an orb that Gennai instantly recognized as Digicores.

"What is it that is so important Gennai?" The red Digicore that emerged from the Crests of Courage and Friendship asked. Zhuqiaomon, the Guardian of the South had never been one to waste time on pleasantries.

"There are two new developments that I felt you would like brought to your attention." Gennai said, earning another sigh from Zhuqiaomon. Ever since he had chanced upon a digital world that was linked to an alternative human world where the humans used digimon as slaves, Zhuqiaomon had gained a burning hatred for humans, and a much shorter temper than he once possessed.

"And what would they be Gennai?" He asked.

"The Crest of Courage has been relit." Gennai said, gesturing behind the Digicore. There was a soft murmur that ran through the Digicores as they all realized he spoke the truth.

A year before the light of the Crest of Courage in the Crest Room had gone out. Gennai had feared that the Bearer of Courage had finally met his end somewhere out in the multiverse, and there was nothing he could do to confirm or deny that fact. Now the Crest was once more lit, though what that meant or why it had been off in the first place eluded Gennai.

"So it has." The Blue Digicore that had emerged from the Crests of Light and Hope said. Azulongmon had always liked the humans, even when he'd lied to them to follow the course set by the consensus of the Sovereigns. "Though I cannot fathom what this means."

"Isn't it obvious?" The green Digicore that had come from the Crests of Knowledge and Reliability said in a twin voice. "The Bearer of Courage didn't die, he simple lost his Courage." Ebonwumon said to the group, matter of factly. The old digimon had never leaned either way in the human discussion, preferring to deal with his own concerns rather than that of the human world.

"But what significance does that have to us? He still cannot return to this world." The final, pure white Digicore which had emerged from the Crests of Love and Sincerity said. Baihumon was the youngest Sovereign, and preferred not to waste time talking, if it could be avoided.

"That may not be entirely true." Gennai said, gaining all four Digicore's attention.

"What?" Azulongmon asked.

"I have finally managed to determine the source of the jamming between the digital world and the human world." Gennai replied, looking at the Digicores one at a time. "I have determined that a group of Datamon are responsible for the action, and after hacking into their server, I determined who is controlling them."

"Well spit it out already Gennai. Tell us who this digimon is so we can stop worrying about this troublesome jamming." Baihumon said as Gennai paused for breath.

"The digimon is not one natural to this digital world." Gennai replied, "The digimon is Beelzemon."

"Beelzemon? One of the Demon Lords here? HOW?" Zhuqiaomon shouted out into the room, voicing what Gennai was sure all four Sovereigns were feeling.

"I do not know how, and I can't tell you what he plans, but I don't think it's that hard to guess." Gennai replied, and the Sovereigns all fell silent.

"Where are they now Gennai?" Azulongmon asked after a few seconds silence.

"From what I could gather from my hack, Beelzemon was launching an attack against the human world." Gennai replied, and a satisfied snort sounded from Zhuqiaomon.

"Good. Let him wreck their world for once. We'll deal with him once he decides to come back here." The red Digicore stated.

Gennai opened his mouth to responded, but surprisingly enough it was Ebonwumon who replied first.

"You fool. Don't you see what he's after?" The green Digicore demanded. "He's after the Chosen! If they are defeated and killed, the Crests will no longer be powered, and the barrier will fall. Then Beelzemon will only be one of _SEVEN_ problems."

The room was left in silence at Ebonwumon's statement. Gennai had been thinking along the same lines, but it appeared that none of the other Sovereigns, besides Ebonwumon had thought of that.

"What can we do?" Azulongmon asked, and Gennai knew he was asking him, since Gennai was their primary source of contact and information about the digidestined.

"For now, we can't do anything." Gennai replied, his gaze settling upon the Crest of Courage burning brightly behind the red Digicore. "Except hope that they can pull through, and maybe that all of you were wrong about Tai's ability to return.

~1010101010~

Tai stumbled a little bit as Mask's Square exploded around him.

_That…felt…good. _Tai thought to himself as the world came into focus. _I guess I really do have a bit of a problem…_ Tai was surprised how good it felt to admit that fact, even just to himself. _That's because your thick head has finally figured out that you really aren't alone, not anymore._

With that thought Tai was ready to greet his friends more warmly than he had in a while, but finally took in his surroundings instead. He was still in the same rain soaked street where he'd saved Kari and T.K. from Mask's Square, only to have them follow him into the Square, and it was still filled with digidestined and digimon. The difference was the fact that all the digimon looked like they'd been through the ringer, and most of the digidestined looked little better.

Tai's mind started racing, as it had been forced to do far too many times over the last three years, as he took in the situation around him.

"Maybe I should take lessons from you," An all too familiar voice sneered, and Tai's full attention was drawn straight in front of him. Sora was standing between Jane and Tai, obviously confronting the other woman.

Tai didn't know exactly what they were talking about, but he could take a pretty good guess. He knew Jane far better than he wished he did, and he knew that she was a master manipulator, and she would attempt to twist her opponent's minds so they make mistakes.

_Well, I'm not going to let that happen._ Tai thought to himself and inserted himself into the conversation before Jane could continue.

"Why would you want to do that Jane?" Tai asked, and Sora turned in place almost the same instant that he paused in his sentence. Tai took a second to smile at Sora, and he could see her smile back through the pouring rain. "I mean, then you might actually have some good qualities about you." Tai added, almost surprised at himself. He'd hardly been able to speak around Jane or the others, yet now he was making a sarcastic comment about her.

_Man, it's good to have this back._ Tai thought to himself.

"WHAT?" Jane shouted, her cool lost at Tai's comment about her.

Tai grinned as she asked that. He had the perfect diatribe for her.

"Well, Sora's actually nice, unlike you. She takes care of her friends, unlike you, who only manipulates them." Tai replied, pulling a finger down as he counted down his little list. As he got to his last reason he looked right at Jane, and felt a huge grin breaking out on his face. "And unlike you, Sora's not a bitch, so you could learn how to do that to."

A small giggle escaped Sora's lips as Jane sputtered into incoherence. Tai couldn't help but laugh at that point.

"Man, I've wanted to say that for a long time." Tai said as he stepped up to where Sora was still standing. She surprised him by delivering a sharp poke into his ribs. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You shouldn't call people names." Sora replied, and Tai couldn't help but smile at her. It was just like Sora to tell him off for calling someone a name when he did it to defend her, and honestly he didn't mind at all. Not that he was going to tell Sora that.

"Really?" He asked, and Sora shrugged.

"Fine, I'll make an exception this one time." Sora said, and Tai instantly recognized the face she would always wear when she conceded an argument. That just caused him to continue smiling at the red haired girl, until Jane's fuming broke through their little moment. As he turned back towards her his face returned to its now normal neutral expression, and he looked over to Jane.

"I think I've had about enough of you." Tai said, looking right at her, and Sora nodded her head next to him.

"I agree."

"Starlight Explosion!" Up above them a brilliant flash of light lit the cloud covered sky, brightening the entire street until it was bright as day. Something crashed behind Jane, causing the entire ground to shake. Seconds later Phonixmon landed behind the digidestined.

"Phonixmon!" Sora exclaimed referring to her partner who landed among the digidestined behind Tai and Sora. Tai continued to watch Jane, deciding right then and there that he wasn't going to let her get away this time. He was going to end this whole thing with her right here.

"Dynasmon was winning the battle for a while, but then I felt a great strength come over me and I was able to defeat him." Phonixmon said, breaking through Tai's concentration, and Tai had to smile once more, glancing at Sora as she looked at him.

"What?"

"You realize what that power was right?" Tai asked, still smiling. Sora shook her head. "It was your Crest, which I guess completely answers the little question about how you really feel about me…"

Tai kept smiling as Sora's face turned an unusual shade of red, and she started looking down at her feet. Tai wasn't really sure what he was going to say next, but that was a moot point as the rain that had been falling for several days straight suddenly stopped and a green light illuminated the entire street.

Tai spun towards the source of the light, and was stunned to see a Digital Gate hovering in the center of the street, spinning slowly as it only showed data.

"What is that?" Joe asked, from where he was with the other digidestined, taking cover.

"A digital gate." Tai replied, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he stared at the portal. That wasn't the normal Digital Gate for this world, though it was the standard in most other dimensions. That meant that whatever emerged from it probably wouldn't be their friend.

As Tai thought this two shapes took form in the center of the Gate. The quickly grew larger until the Gate spit both of them out. The smaller resembled a large teddy bear, wrapped in chains with an alarm clock held in its hands.

The other one didn't look anything like a teddy bear, instead resembling a tall biker, clothed in all black. He had a mask covering the top of his head, and there was faint blond hair visible just behind his head. The most interesting fact about this mask however was the third eye that stared at the digidestined with a look of pure hatred. He radiated both raw power and pure hatred at the same time.

Tai recognized the digimon as Beelzemon instantly, having observed him from a distance on a number of occasions.

"Wh…who are they?" Sora asked, stuttering over the word as Beelzemon stared them down.

"Beelzemon." Tai replied, loud enough for all the digidestined to hear. Izzy, who had pulled his laptop out when the Digital Gate appeared, pulled up his digimon analyzer.

"Beelzemon, one of the Severn Great Demon Lords, Beelzemon is the Lord of Gluttony. He is an extremely powerful mega level digimon who attacks with his Darkness Claw and Double Impact attacks…" Izzy said for the benefit of all the digidestined.

"So he's one of the Demon Lords?" Matt asked, looking at Beelzemon, who finally spoke.

"Yea, that's right." He said, looking at all the digidestined. "And if you knew any better you'd all be running for your lives right now."

If the tall digimon had intended that to scare the digidestined, then his plan completely backfired. All twelve of the original digidestined had arrived at this street, and all but one of them weren't going to let some biker digimon talk to them like that, no matter who he was.

The only one who wasn't going through a hot headed reaction right now was the one who had been called their biggest hot head, but he'd learned hot headedness in battle wasn't the best way to defeat a powerful opponent. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stop his companions.

"You obviously have no idea who we are if you think that we're going to be running away from the likes of you." Davis said, stepping forward, along with the other digidestined.

"No, stay back." Tai said, holding out an arm to stop the other digidestined, but they wouldn't listen to him, they didn't know exactly what the Demon Lords were capable of.

"Crimson Flare!" Phonixmon jumped forward from where she'd been standing, launching herself right at Beelzemon behind her attack. The Demon Lord just stood his ground and took the attack as it hit him.

"Alright Phonixmon!" Sora shouted as Phonixmon continued forward. She was going to finish off this digimon quickly so they could all just go home and rest.

"Darkness Claw!" A voice shouted as Phonixmon dove into the smoke created by her attack. A small pink shape shot out of the other side of the smoke, and Biyomon slammed into a building on the opposite side of the street, falling to the ground unconscious.

"BIYOMON!" Sora shouted as she saw her partner. She started to step towards Biyomon, but a strong hand gripped her arm to prevent her from moving.

"Wait. Go now and Beelzemon will just destroy both of you." Tai told her, his voice hard because he knew none of the digidestined had ever been in a fight like this before. While he was able to stop Sora, through a combination of grabbing her and his voice, the same couldn't be said for Davis and Matt.

"Ok, let's see how you like two Megas! Go Veemon!" Davis shouted after a brief shared look with Matt.

"Let's go Gabumon! Digivolve!" Matt shouted to his partner, and both digimon charged forward.

"Veemon warp digivolve to! Magnamon!"

"Gabumon warp digivolve to! MetalGarurumon!"

The two Megas landed on either side of Beelzemon, who looked back and forth between them.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon moved first, launching an icy blast of energy from his mouth. Beelzemon moved to the side at the last second to avoid the attack, which now flew right for Magnamon.

The Golden Knight leapt into the air to avoid the attack, lightning gathering on his arms as he did.

"Magna Blast!" Magnamon unleashed the lightning in a rainbow blast of plasma, which Beelzemon once more managed to avoid.

"Ice Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon launch dozens of missiles at Beelzemon this time, and once more the Demon digimon avoided every one of them. Magnamon and MetalGarurumon both continued to press their attack with the same result.

Tai turned away from the battle, knowing that they were going to need more to fight Beelzemon right now, which meant that he had to find BurningGreymon.

Almost on cue with his thoughts a large pile of rubble started to shake, and BurningGreymon rose from the pile, holding Patamon and Gatomon. Kari and T.K. had turned at the noise, and rushed over to BurningGreymon to get their partners. Before Tai could say anything to his partner, there was a shout behind him.

"There you go Magnamon, stick it to him!" Davis shouted, and Tai turned to see Magnamon engaging Beelzemon in hand to hand fighting. The Golden Knight was throwing everything he had at Beelzemon, but the Demon Lord blocked each and every punch, and Tai could see that Magnamon was completely exhausted.

_Of course!_ Tai thought to himself. _Magnamon fought Dorugoramon not even an hour ago. He can't have much left in the tank…this isn't going to end well._

"Davis! Get him out of there, he's exhausted!" Tai shouted towards the other goggle wearing digidestined. Davis turned towards Tai, but it was too late.

"Say goodnight, sir knight." Beelzemon said, winding back one of his arms. "Darkness Claw!" Beelzemon raised his hand so it looked like a claw and hit Magnamon faster than the speedy digimon had moved the entire battle. Magnamon went flying right for the same building Biyomon had hit, dedigivolving to Veemon before he hit it.

"Giga Missile!" A massive missile flew right at Beelzemon as he watched Veemon hit the building, and it actually hit the Demon Lord, causing a massive explosion.

"Did that do it?" Cody asked from where he was standing with Yolei and Ken.

"I…I think so…" Matt replied, as the smoke started to clear. Beelzemon was standing there, both of his fists clenched, and he looked even angrier than he had when he first appeared.

"You cowardly little piss ant!" He shouted at MetalGarurumon. "You're going to pay for attacking me when my back was turned!"

"We'll see about that!" MetalGarurumon shouted back, preparing another volley of missiles. "Ice Wolf Claw!"

Beelzemon watched the missiles fly right at him, and drew the pair of shotguns he was wearing, bringing them around to point right at MetalGarurumon.

"Double Impact!" He fired four rounds from the shotguns, which reached MetalGarurumon before the armored digimon could react. The digidestined could see the shots hit MetalGarurumon, who then glowed and reverted to Tsunomon. The missiles that he'd launched disappeared before they hit Beelzemon.

The Demon Lord took a second to look at the small unconscious in-training digimon, and then turned towards the digidestined.

"I don't like destroying defenseless beings, no matter who they are." Beelzemon said, almost talking to himself, "But sometimes you have to do things you don't like."

Beelzemon stopped a few dozen meters from the digidestined, and pulled out his pair of shotguns once more.

"This is the end of the line for you digidestined." He said, aiming the shotguns right at the largest group of digidestined.

"NO!" Two voices shouted in unison, just before a blur tackled Beelzemon. His shotguns went flying out of his hands as he was sent flying down the street. Beelzemon managed to land on his feet from the tackle, and glared to the being that had attacked him.

BurningGreymon was standing between Beelzemon and Tai, who was standing between BurningGreymon and the digidestined.

"The only way you're going to lay a finger on any of them is through us." Tai said, staring right at Beelzemon, while BurningGreymon let out a low growl.

"Good." Beelzemon replied. "I was hoping to have the chance to finish you off Kamiya. You've been a pain in our side for too long!"

Tai ignored the comment, instead focusing on how to help BurningGreymon in the fight. BurningGreymon was more than outmatched in this battle. Beelzemon made other Megas look like Rookies in comparison to his power levels, and BurningGreymon was only a powered up Ultimate. The secret to his and Tai's success was their teamwork, and the cards given to them by the Tamers, but even all of that would be strained to the breaking point versus Beelzemon.

"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon decided to get things rolling on his own, dashing forward towards Beelzemon, who immediately moved to avoid the attack, dodging BurningGreymon's attacks with ease.

Tai reached for a card to help BurningGreymon, pulling out a hand of them.

"Digi-modify! Speed Boost Activate!" Tai shouted as he swiped the card through his card reader. BurningGreymon instantly sped up, landing several blasts on Beelzemon, though they had almost no effect.

"Tai, it isn't working!" BurningGreymon shouted back to Tai, and Tai simply nodded, looking back down at the cards in his hand.

"Try this!" Tai shouted out, "Digi-Modify! Gallantmon's Spear and Shield Activate!" BurningGreymon's right arm was covered in a red and white spear, while his left was covered with a massive shield. It was very good timing on Tai's part, as Beelzemon chose that moment to attack. BurningGreymon was able to block the attack, barely, and get some distance from the Demon Lord.

"Lightning Joust!" BurningGreymon pushed off one of the (few) remaining buildings, headed right for Beelzemon. The Demon Lord dodged the attack with a spin, which also allowed him to deliver a kick to BurningGreymon which sent the dragon digimon flying. The spear and shield dissolved into data as BurningGreymon hit the ground and was still.

"For someone who's given us so much trouble, you weren't that difficult to defeat." Beelzemon said, wiping his hands together as he turned back towards the digidestined. "Now, where was I?"

"Right here! Wildfire Tsunami!" A Massive wave of flames hit Beelzemon, and actually sent the unsuspecting digimon flying. BurningGreymon was back on his feet, sending the massive wave of fire at Beelzemon.

He released the blast, panting at the effort. Beelzemon however simply got to his feet from where he'd landed, his biker suit smoking in several places.

"Why you…" He said, reaching down for his shotguns, only to hit air. They were still lying on the ground where he'd dropped them.

"Digi-Modify!" Tai shouted, desperate to do something to help BurningGreymon as Beelzemon turned towards him. "Justimon's Trinity Arm Activate!"

BurningGreymon's right arm transformed into a metallic arm, an identical one to the one that Justimon possessed, and like that arm this one had the ability to use one of three different modes.

"Justice Burst!" BurningGreymon launched several orbs of lightning at Beelzemon, who once more dodged most of the blasts.

"Slow him down!" Tai shouted, and BurningGreymon nodded, the Trinity Arm transforming.

"Thunder Clap!" BurningGreymon slammed the arm into the ground, sending a shockwave out towards Beelzemon. It not only destroyed the ground Beelzemon was running on, but it also sent the Demon Lord flying.

"Ok, now finish it!" Tai shouted, and BurningGreymon charged forward, his arm changing again. This time a blade extended from the end of it, and everyone could see Tai and BurningGreymon's intention.

"Voltage Blade!" BurningGreymon brought the blade down onto Beelzemon, who was able to grab ahold of the Trinity arm with his own hands, stopping the attack.

"I don't think so!" Beelzemon snarled, then drew back his right arm while his left one held BurningGreymon's arm completely immobilized. "Darkness Claw!" Beelzemon's attack sent BurningGreymon flying and crashing into a building just next to Tai. He dedigivolved in midair, crashing as Agumon.

"Agumon!" Tai cried out, and he dashed out for him. The other digidestined were still completely frozen, not being able to do anything but stare as the battle went on, and now Tai dived right into the middle of it.

As Tai ran to Agumon, Beelzemon walked over to where he'd dropped his shotguns and picked the two of them up. Muttering to himself he looked up at the digidestined and Tai, and started to walk towards Tai.

Meanwhile Tai had finally reached Agumon, whom he ran straight to, and cradled his head in his arms.

"Agumon?" Tai asked, his voice cracking as he looked at how beat up his best friend was.

"Tai…" Agumon replied, cracking an eye. "…I'm sorry I couldn't stop him."

"Don't apologize, you did everything you could…" Tai told his partner, his voice a hoarse whisper as he tried to stay calm. The last time Agumon had been like this had been the time Tai had forced him to digivolve into EmperorGreymon, and he'd nearly died then.

"I…I can still fight." Agumon said, as he tried to push himself up, only to fall back again.

"No you can't, you're too weak." Tai said, trying to hold onto the yellow dinosaur.

"Tai I have to." Agumon replied, and then looked right up at Tai. "Digivolve me to Mega."

"NO!" Tai said, surprised that Agumon would even mention that. "You almost destroyed yourself last time!"

"It's the only way Tai!" Agumon replied, gaining some more strength. "I have to face Beelzemon!"

"Agumon you can't!" Tai said, tears now falling out of his eyes. "I can't lose you!"

"Tai…"

"I won't let you do it, at least not alone!" Tai said. "We'll face Beelzemon together this time, not just you."

"Tai…you can't" Agumon said, surprised at his partner's outburst. "You'll be killed in a second."

"It doesn't matter Agumon, I'm done letting you fight alone." Tai said, determination lacing his voice. Agumon knew that tone of voice, and knew there was no deterring him. Not that it really mattered either way. Unless Tai digivolved him they didn't stand a chance.

"Ok Tai," Agumon said, "Together!"

As Agumon said that Tai's digivice started flashing and going crazy, drawing both of their attention. Tai looked at the screen, seeing two words on the screen.

As Tai and Agumon were talking Beelzemon had finally picked up his shotguns and walked over towards the two.

"Well, I'll start with you Kamiya, since you put up the best fight." Beelzemon said, talking mostly to himself. "Double Impact!"

Beelzemon took aim at Tai and Agumon and fired in one smooth motion. There was a massive explosion forcing everyone, Beelzemon included, to shield their eyes.

~Chapter End~

_Is this the end for Tai and Agumon? What will happen to the other digidestined? Find out next time on Digimon, Demon Wars._

_Well there you go folks. Hope you enjoyed the background info, and the battle. Until next time!_

_**Review Replies:**_

_TheOmegaMan: uh huh…just be glad I didn't tell everyone to go mention TK in their TDP reviews…_

_Dark Anbu Knight: maybe not as soon as you think, but still really soon._

_my daydream world: Yep! And here you go!_

_LyraXEthan: Thanks, a bunch!_

_Shara Raizel: Thanks! and yea, it seemed more appropriate for the two of them than the physical confrontations from before. And you'll see more of the good 'ol Tai, but he won't make an entire reversion. He's too far gone for that._

_Phantomgirl96 : Thanks!_

_TaioraWarrior : Maybe, just a little. I mean, it was pretty cool to hit 300,000 words, and 100,000 words is pretty cool to…Thanks! Thanks again! I'm glad you thought everything was good. And of course…I'm actually surprised that you're the first person to mention it that way…just wait until the next time they show down…things might be a bit more physical. And he's healed, not just cured yet. And he knows that, but that doesn't mean things will be easy. You'll see in a few chapters, but Tai really gets the protector thing into his head, and that may complicate things. Just wait and you'll see. There's still lots of story to tell. And yes I am, very much so, though not as bad as theomegaman… _

_xOne N Onlyx: No worries! I'm just glad you take the time to write one at all. And thanks! That's my single favorite compliment. And thanks again! I'd be happy to sort out that mess for you! hahaha. I didn't want to focus too much on Mask's Square this chapter, because it was supposed to be Sora's chapter. It was easy for Kari because the Crests are the key to getting out of Mask's Square. Light is rather different than most Crests, since it's just something you have, you can't really do anything about it. Things were much tougher for TK, and Tai his first time in. Tai had used his Crest to escape Mask's Square before in the past, so once his Crest was reactivated, he knew how to use it to get out. Hopefully that explanation makes things a little more cleared up. Thanks! and maybe in round two…though the Bikinis would be a little hard to get worked out…And thanks again! I wish I could. Honestly if I could I'd nothing but right and update, sadly I'm not a full time writer and a few things like school have this pesky habit of taking up too much of my time. Still, a week is much better than three weeks lol._

_Japboix1: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the story!_

_Supershooter: Thank you, very much! Yep, Love can be a powerful thing, especially for the Bearer of Love. And yep, Tai does have that knack of showing up at exactly the right time. Hope it was interesting for you, and was that update fast enough? I got you're review as I was typing these replies up…real quick for you lol._


	20. Digivice Miracle: Emerge Dragon Warrior!

_Well it's update time yet again…if a little later than I planned…like three different time…anyways, I finally got it done, so here you go._

_Also, just for clarification, DAVIS is the bearer of Faith. That's the Crest I gave him back at the start of the story. Sorry for the confusion._

_Disclaimer: I do not own digimon. Seriously…someone like me owning digimon…get serious!_

_**Last Time**__: Basically, Beelzemon showed up and kicked everyone's butts, then, fired a shot at Tai and Agumon! Also, it turns out the digimon Sovereigns knew that Tai was alive, and in a different dimension…what a bunch of jerks._

_Special note on Talking/thinking:_

"This is Talking"

_This is thinking_

_**This is talking when biomerged**_

_Ok, now on with the story!_

**Chapter 19 Digivice Miracle: Emerge Dragon Warrior!**

The digidestined all watched, frozen as Beelzemon stepped towards Tai and the injured Agumon.

"Well, I'll start with you Kamiya, since you put up the best fight." Beelzemon said, looking at the human and his partner, who ignored him completely. "Double Impact!"

Beelzemon raised his shotguns and fired in one completely smooth motion, the bullets heading right for Tai and Agumon.

"TAI!" Kari and Sora shouted in unison as Beelzemon attacked. They both started to move forward, but before they could get more than a step forward the attack hit. A blinding light covered the entire street, causing each and every one of the digidestined to shield their eyes.

Unbeknownst to them (but knownst to us) Beelzemon was also shielding his eyes, and his surprise.

_What's going on? This has never happened before!_ Beelzemon wondered to himself as the light continued to burn, then suddenly died.

Beelzemon lowered the arm that had been shielding his eyes, and was shocked at the sight that greeted him.

"No! Impossible!" Beelzemon shouted.

The digidestined all lowered their arms (or whatever they'd been shielding their eyes with) as Beelzemon shouted. They were just as shocked as Beelzemon, if not quite as outraged.

They'd expected to see nothing but a crater where Tai and Agumon had been, but instead there was a tall digimon standing there.

He was covered in heavy red armor from head to toe, all of which was stylized with dragon heads. Its shoulders and its knees were covering in the dragons heads, in addition to one over each of its hands. On his back was one of the largest swords any of the digidestined had ever seen, gleaming in the pale light of the sun that was just starting to rise. His head was the only part of his that was similar to any of the digidestined, as it looked similar to WarGreymon's, though this one's head was completely orange compared to WarGreymon's metallic color.

"Who's that?" Davis asked as everyone was stunned into silence. Izzy responded almost on instinct to that question, pulling his laptop out. The result surprised him.

_There's nothing in it…_ Izzy thought to himself, shocked that his digimon analyzer lacked any knowledge on this digimon. He'd thought that every digimon in existence was in his database

"I don't have anything on this digi…" Izzy started to say, only to be interrupted by several icons flashing on his computer. The download icon appeared in the center of the screen, and then disappeared. It was replaced by a picture of the digimon in front of them as well as information about him.

_Where did that come from…?_ Izzy wondered to himself as he looked over the information.

"That's EmperorGreymon, a Mega Level, Dragon Warrior Digimon. He attacks with the power of the nine dragons contained within his armor. His Dragonfire Crossbow and Pyro Dragons attacks unleash their full fury upon his enemies." Izzy informed the others. Matt was the first to grasp upon a key fact.

"Wait, Emperor_Greymon_?" He asked, emphasizing the Greymon part. "Could that mean that's Agumon?"

"It's possible." Izzy replied, and then Sora spoke up.

"If it is, we might be in more trouble." She said, getting weird looks from all the other digidestined. "Tai told me the one other time that Agumon digivolved to Mega it was like SkullGreymon all over again, only worse."

The other original digidestined grasped what that meant right away, though it didn't take the younger generation that much longer to realize what that meant. Tai had told all of them the story of the time he'd forced Agumon to digivolve to Ultimate, only to have him Dark Digivolve. The resultant monstrosity had run rampant, destroying everything in its path until it ran out of energy. He tried to use it as a lesson for all of them, so they wouldn't repeat his mistakes.

"But Tai wouldn't have forced Agumon to digivolve, would he?" Mimi asked, but before anyone could answer her question attention was drawn back into the center of the street by Beelzemon shouting at EmperorGreymon.

"Oh, look who finally digivolved to Mega…" He sneered at the motionless EmperorGreymon. "What's the matter Dragon Warrior? Can't move?" Beelzemon paused, and then quickly aimed his shotguns at EmperorGreymon. "No matter, I'll put you out of your misery. Double Impact!"

Beelzemon fired off another barrage of bullets, and all the digidestined held their breath as they sped towards EmperorGreymon. A single shot from those same bullets had knocked MetalGarurumon out of the battle earlier, which meant they could probably do the same thing to EmperorGreymon.

The shots hit the motionless digimon, ricocheting off of his armor. EmperorGreymon didn't move an inch or show any reaction to the attack whatsoever.

"What?" Beelzemon shouted as his attack did nothing. "How did that not work?"

EmperorGreymon just kept staring straight ahead, not bothering to pay attention to the Demon Lord.

"Double Impact!" Beelzemon fired again, with the same results. "Double Impact! Double Impact!" He kept firing at the Dragon Warrior, with absolutely no effect, not even a scratch on his armor.

_Click!_

Beelzemon pressed down on the triggers of his shotguns, only to get clicking noises out of both of them.

"Damn it!" He shouted, his anger getting the better of him again. He threw the shotguns onto the ground on either side of him.

"Looks like you ran out of ammo!" Davis cheered from where he'd climbed on some rubble, near where all the digidestined were still watching all of this go down.

"Davis! Shut up!" Yolei said, grabbing the goggle wearing teenager and pulling him off the rubble pile.

"Silence you!" Beelzemon said, not even glancing at the digidestined. "I'll deal with all of you in a second." He then stepped towards EmperorGreymon. "Looks like this is going to have to be up close and personal." Beelzemon then dashed right at EmperorGreymon, who still didn't budge.

"EmperorGreymon!" The digidestined shouted out as Beelzemon reached the digimon.

"Say goodbye dragon face!" Beelzemon said as he brought his arm back. "Darkness Claw!" He brought his arm down, preparing to hit him with the attack.

Before it landed however, a hand reached up with lightning speed, stopping Beelzemon's arm in a strong grip.

"Goodbye." EmperorGreymon said, in a strange dual voice that reminded the younger digidestined of when their partners DNA digivolved. EmperorGreymon brought his other arm around, hitting Beelzemon in the stomach with the same lightning speed he'd used to stop his attack. Beelzemon was sent flying away from EmperorGreymon, who went into a fighting stance.

"I think it's time to end this fight." The digimon said, once more in his two voices.

~1010101010~

_Biomerge Digivolution…_

Those words burned bright on the screen of Tai's digivice, and he had little time to wonder exactly what they meant, as his digivice emitted a bright flash of light. Tai closed his eyes as the light was emitted.

_What the hell…_ Tai thought to himself as the light consumed him and Agumon, and then he started to feel weird, almost as if his body was gaining immeasurable strength.

"Agumon Biomerge to! EmperorGreymon!" Tai heard his partner shout that, and was instantly concerned. This biomerging thing sounded familiar, but Tai couldn't remember exactly where he'd heard the term. EmperorGreymon however was very familiar to him, as it was Agumon's Mega form, which he couldn't control.

_**I've got to stop Agumon from digivolving**__._ Tai thought to himself.

_**I think it's a little late for that Tai**__._ A voice that sounded exactly like Agumon's broke through into Tai's thoughts.

_**Agumon?**_Tai asked.

_**Who else would it be?**_ The digimon replied, and Tai could almost detect laughter in his voice.

_**Where are you?**_ Tai asked, his eyes still squeezed closed. _**As far as I know, I'm thinking all of this, not saying it. How can you hear me?**_

_**Why don't you open your eyes?**_ Agumon asked instead of answering Tai's question. It only took a second to decide, and then he opened his eyes. The sight that greeted him was most unexpected. He was floating in a glowing orange sphere, surrounded by darkness as far as we could tell.

_**Where am I?**_ Tai asked, looking around him. Before Agumon could answer there was a small stinging on Tai shoulder.

_**Well, somehow you're inside of me.**_ Agumon replied. _**We somehow digivolved together.**_

_**Digivolved together?**_ Tai asked, and suddenly it clicked where he'd heard the term Biomerge before. _**Like the Tamers did!**_

_**Hmmm, you're right. That's why this seems so familiar.**_ Agumon replied, just as there was another stinging sensation. _**What was it the Tamers always said about when they fought together?**_

_**That they were stronger together than they ever were apart**__._ Tai replied, his mind following the same line of thought as Agumon.

_**And we biomerged to EmperorGreymon, yet I'm not going crazy like before.**_Agumon replied, just as a rapid fire set of stings started occurring. Tai continued to ignore them, unsure as to what they were.

_**Then maybe us digivolving together allows us to control EmperorGreymon, when you couldn't control him alone.**_ Tai said, finishing the theory.

_**That must be it.**_ Agumon replied.

_**Then we should have the power to defeat Beelzemon…**_Tai said, just as the stinging stopped.

_**Yes!**_ Agumon replied, _**We do!**_

_**Well then, let's get started.**_ Tai replied, and hoped that he and Agumon would be able to figure everything out about this new power quickly enough to defeat Beelzemon.

_**Ok, here we go…**_ Agumon called out, and suddenly the darkness that had been surrounding Tai was gone, revealing the devastated street they'd been fighting in for most of the night. The sun was coming over one of the buildings, and easily revealed the charging Beelzemon.

"Say Goodbye dragon face!" He shouted as he jumped right at them. "Darkness Claw!" He swiped right at EmperorGreymon, and Tai acted on sheer instincts, reaching up with his left arm to catch his attack. Surprisingly not only did EmperorGreymon follow Tai's actions, but he also was more than fast enough to catch Beelzemon.

_**Tai, I think you control our movements!**_ Agumon exclaimed around him. Tai's face split into a grin as he had the same thought as Agumon. This was going to be good.

_**Right. Let's send this guy packing.**_ Tai said.

"Goodbye." Tai said, and he could hear his own voice mix with Agumon's as he actually spoke. Tai quickly punched Beelzemon right in the stomach, letting go of his arm as he hit him. The Demon Lord was sent flying across the street, skidding to a halt across the street.

Tai assumed a fighting stance (or an approximation of one since he was floating in a giant orange ball).

"I think it's time to end this fight." Tai and Agumon said, looking right at the crashed Beelzemon.

~10101010~

All of the digidestined were shocked as EmperorGreymon stood, waiting for Beelzemon to get onto his feet. They had no idea what was going on, except that they finally seemed to have a digimon that could handle Beelzemon.

"You're going to pay for that…" Beelzemon said as he struggled to his feet.

"I really don't think so." EmperorGreymon replied in his dual voices, which the digidestined were still trying to figure out.

_Those voice sound so familiar…_ Sora thought to herself as she watched EmperorGreymon. _It's almost like it is Agumon and Tai…TAI!_

Sora broke her gaze away from the tall figure of EmperorGreymon and towards where Agumon and Tai had been before. There was no sign of the goggle wearing man there, none at all.

"Where's Tai?" She asked, gesturing towards the area where he'd been.

"What?" The others asked, looking where she'd gestured. They quickly noticed the same thing that she had.

"Where is he?" Kari asked, and immediately started moving towards where he had been. Sora went with her, both of them getting out of reach before the others could stop them.

~10101010~

EmperorGreymon waited as Beelzemon got all the way to his feet.

"Darkness Claw!" Beelzemon jumped right at EmperorGreymon before he had gotten all the way up, attempting to catch the Mega off guard. His plan didn't work as EmperorGreymon sidestepped his attack, and Beelzemon went flying past him.

"My turn." EmperorGreymon said.

_**Agumon, what are our attacks? **_Tai asked his partner, not sure how a digimon knew their attacks in a new form.

_**Here, try this.**_ Agumon replied, and a screen of sorts appeared in front of Tai, showing the words Dragon Fist, and then an image of EmperorGreymon's hands.

_**Ok, here goes.**_

"Dragon Fist!" Tai called out through EmperorGreymon as he ran at Beelzemon. The two dragons that had been over EmperorGreymon's hands lowered themselves so that they completely covered his hands. EmperorGreymon brought one of them around faster than Beelzemon could see and landed a powerful punch that sent the Demon Lord flying once more, with even more force than before.

_**Alright! That was awesome!**_ Tai exclaimed as Beelzemon landed in the middle of the street. They were handling the Demon Lord like he was a rookie, without even breaking a sweat.

_**YEA!**_ Agumon exclaimed with Tai. Beelzemon once more struggled to his feet, glaring at EmperorGreymon.

"I'm going to rip you to pieces!" He shouted at the Dragon Warrior.

"Really? Because I still think you haven't landed a single blow on me." EmperorGreymon replied, the dragon heads on his arms returning to their original positions.

"We'll see who's landing blows on who!" Beelzemon shouted, dashing forward again. "Darkness Claw!"

EmperorGreymon let him charge once more, and stepped out of the way, lightning quick once more. Beelzemon however seemed to be expecting this, and he twisted in mid jump to hit EmperorGreymon.

The blow landed and bounced right off of the armor that EmperorGreymon was incased in.

"AH!" Beelzemon held his hand as he backed away from EmperorGreymon. EmperorGreymon just laughed at him.

"My Armor is a mix of Red, Gold, and Blue Digizoid armor." EmperorGreymon said, laughing. "You're going to need more power than that to break through it."

Beelzemon just glared at EmperorGreymon as he held is hand.

"Oh, well aren't you special!" He shouted, through gritted teeth.

_**I think Beelzemon is starting to lose it.**_ Tai said to Agumon. _**He was supposed to be one of the calmest of the Demon Lords, if you could call any of them calm.**_

_**I know what you mean Tai.**_ Agumon replied. _**I don't know why though.**_

_**Neither do I Agumon, but we have to be careful. **_Tai said, as he kept looking at Beelzemon. _**We need to finish this quickly before he does something crazy.**_

"I think that it's time to end this." EmperorGreymon said, looking at Beelzemon.

"I agree." Beelzemon said, stopping EmperorGreymon in mid-sentence.

EmperorGreymon had been reaching behind him, but stopped when Beelzemon talked.

"I may not be able to hurt you, but I know who I can hurt!" Beelzemon shouted, and then turned towards where EmperorGreymon had stated the battle. "Perfect."

EmperorGreymon looked past him to see Kari and Sora looking around that area, undoubtedly looking for Tai. Before EmperorGreymon could do anything Beelzemon dashed at the two of them, moving as fast as he could.

"NO!" EmperorGreymon shouted, dashing right after the Demon Lord. It was going to be a race.

~10101010~

Kari and Sora had no problem getting to the area that Tai had disappeared in, but once they got there they found that locating Tai wasn't so easy.

"Where could he be?" Kari asked as the two of them combed through the wreckage for Tai. They'd both assumed that he would be around here somewhere, unconscious or buried under some of the rubble, but they hadn't found anything.

"I don't know Kari, but he has to be here somewhere." Sora replied, with absolute conviction. She'd lost Tai once already, she couldn't believe that he would be gone so quickly again.

"KARI! SORA!" Multiple voices started calling for at the two girls, who looked up from their search at the sound of their names. They looked over to where the other digidestined were still under cover with their partners. They were all shouting and waving at the two of them, then gesturing behind them.

"Wha…" Sora started too asked, and then a booming dual voice shouted.

"DOWN!"

The two responded on instinct, dropping to the ground as a black and red shape flew over them. They looked up to see Beelzemon land, with EmperorGreymon on top of him.

"You. Do. Not. Get. To. Touch. Them." EmperorGreymon said, punctuating each word with a punch into Beelzemon. Kari and Sora watched the digimon take out his anger on the Demon Lord, shocked at the sheer aggressiveness of the digimon.

EmperorGreymon stopped after about a minute, breathing hard as he stood up. He turned away from Beelzemon and towards the two digidestined.

"Are you two ok?" The digimon asked, and Sora had to concentrate hard to try and pick out the second voice that was with Agumon's. It sounded so familiar…

Kari nodded for the two of them, looking up at the massive digimon.

"Good." EmperorGreymon said, and suddenly Sora knew who it was.

_No, that's impossible…though, it would account for everything…but how could Tai have become a digimon?_

"Tai?" Sora asked the tall digimon tentatively. EmperorGreymon fixed his eyes on her, as did Kari.

"Sort of…" EmperorGreymon said, and Kari's eyes widened.

"What? How?" Kari asked, looking up at the digimon.

"I don't really know." EmperorGreymon replied, talking in both Agumon and Tai's voices. "It's something to do with my digivice."

Sora opened her mouth to reply to Tai, but was cut off by a shout from behind her.

"Don't think this is over!" Beelzemon shouted, barely pulling himself to his feet.

EmperorGreymon spun around as he did this.

"What, did you not get enough last time?" He asked, reaching behind him and drawing the massive sword that was on his back.

"Oh, I'm just getting started." Beelzemon replied, reaching into his coat. What he took out surprised EmperorGreymon and both digidestined.

It was a necklace, which looked identical to the Tags which the digidestined had carried during their first adventure to the digital world. The one big difference was this Tag was jet black.

"Crest of Gluttony! Activate!" Beelzemon shouted, and suddenly a weird yellow symbol appeared in the center of the Tag.

Beelzemon started glowing with power, and was suddenly encased in a bright light.

"What's he doing?" Sora shouted as she shielded her eyes.

"He's digivolving…" EmperorGreymon replied as he stared right up at the sphere of light.

"Beelzemon Mode change to! Blast Mode!" The light shattered, revealing a changed Beelzemon. His back was covered in a pair of jet black wings, while his right arm was covered in a massive cannon. He slowly landed across from EmperorGreymon.

"Now I'm going to show you the true meaning of power Dragon Face." Beelzemon said, bringing his arm up.

~10101010~

_**What the…**_ Tai started to say only to stop as Beelzemon raised his arm.

"Corona Blaster!" He fired several blasts from the cannon on his arm, hitting EmperorGreymon, and sending him flying. He crashed right into one of the buildings, and into it.

"Tai!" Kari and Sora called out as EmperorGreymon went flying.

"I wouldn't be worrying about him right now if I were you two." A voice said behind the two digidestined, who quickly turned around to see Beelzemon looking down at them. "You're first on my list."

The two digidestined shrunk back as Beelzemon brought his cannon arm around to point at them.

"Say goodbye."

"NO!" A second before Beelzemon fired something knocked the cannon into the air, where it fired its blast straight up into the sky. Beelzemon jumped back as EmperorGreymon took a swing at his body with his sword.

"How did you survive my attack?" Beelzemon asked after he got a good distance away from EmperorGreymon.

"You obviously weren't listening to the materials that make up my armor." EmperorGreymon replied, holding his sword in front of him as he stood between Beelzemon and Kari and Sora. "It's going to take more than your little pop gun to take me out."

"Oh yea?" Beelzemon asked, charging up another attack. "Corona Blaster!"

EmperorGreymon used his sword to deflect the attack to an angle that was away from both him and the digidestined girls.

"Corona Blaster!" Beelzemon fired again, with the same results.

Inside EmperorGreymon a screen suddenly appeared in front of Tai.

_**Tai, try this!**_ Agumon exclaimed.

"My turn!" EmperorGreymon shouted as Beelzemon lowered his cannon. "Pyro Dragons!" EmperorGreymon drove his sword straight down into the ground, going through the concrete as if it was nothing. As his sword was plunged into the ground, the ground started to rise up, as if something was attempting to break out of it, which is exactly what was happening. Bare seconds after plunging his sword into the ground nine flaming dragons rose out of the ground, and raced towards Beelzemon.

The attack sent the Demon Lord flying once more, though this time he recovered using his wings to fly up into the air.

EmperorGreymon watched him for a second then turned back to the two digidestined.

"You two go join back up with the others, I'm going after him!" EmperorGreymon told them before jumping up into the air. He flew under his own power, landing on the roof of one of the buildings.

_**Now where did Beelzemon run off to?**_ Tai asked inside EmperorGreymon as he looked around the building.

_**I can't see him anywhere Tai.**_ Agumon replied as they looked around the roof.

"Hey Dragon Face, up here! Corona Blaster!" EmperorGreymon looked up just in time for Beelzemon to fire several blasts of his Corona Blaster at him. The blasts hit all around the Dragon Warrior, who just took the attacks.

As the firing stopped, he jumped into the air, right at Beelzemon, who hadn't bothered to move after fighting. EmperorGreymon slashed at Beelzemon with his sword, though Beelzemon was able to avoid the attack, barely.

"How are you not dead!" Beelzemon shouted, bringing his cannon around once more, only to have EmperorGreymon knock it out of the way.

"You're obviously not used to fighting someone as powerful as you!" EmperorGreymon replied, attempting to hit the Demon Lord with his sword. This time he succeeded, cutting Beelzemon on the arm.

"Ah!" Beelzemon shouted, flaring his wings to get some distance between him and EmperorGreymon.

"You're used to letting other digimon to all of the dirty work for you." EmperorGreymon continued. "You're a rusty fighter!"

"Why you!" Beelzemon said, swinging his cannon arm around again. "Corona Blaster!"

EmperorGreymon swung his sword around again, knocking the cannon straight up into the air as it fired, meaning that it didn't hit anything at all. He then delivered another cut to Beelzemon, this time across the digimon's stomach.

"AH!" Beelzemon shouted, and then flew right in at EmperorGreymon, crashing into the hovering digimon. EmperorGreymon wasn't expecting that, and the shock of the hit caused him to drop his sword as Beelzemon flew the two of them into a building.

Beelzemon drove EmperorGreymon into the building, lodging the bigger digimon into the side of the building.

"Let's see you dodge this!" Beelzemon said bringing his cannon to point right at EmperorGreymon. "Corona Blaster! Corona Blaster!" Beelzemon fired a rapid fire stream of blasts right at EmperorGreymon, who was unable to dodge the attacks.

Beelzemon stopped firing after several seconds, and EmperorGreymon had been pushed even deeper into the hole of the building, widening the hole he had made. This allowed him to fall forward out of the hole and towards the ground.

Inside of EmperorGreymon things were little better.

_**TAI! TAI! You've got to wake up!**_ Agumon shouted towards Tai, who was hanging motionless after that last series of attacks. Unlike Agumon, Tai wasn't quite as used to taking attacks from digimon and the power of Beelzemon's attacks had knocked him out.

_**Tai! I can't control our body unless you wake up!**_ Agumon shouted out of the darkness around Tai, but to no avail.

EmperorGreymon hit the ground, hard, right in front of the digidestined.

"TAI!" Sora and Kari attempted to run forward towards the fallen EmperorGreymon, but this time Matt, T.K., and Davis were able to grab them.

Beelzemon landed on the far side of EmperorGreymon from the digidestined, sneering at them.

"Guess someone couldn't handle the heat." Beelzemon said looking down at the fallen EmperorGreymon. "Your time is up."

Beelzemon extended his cannon arm in front of him, and it started glowing.

The digidestined watched him as he did this, suddenly afraid. The only digimon that had been able to stand up to Beelzemon was currently sitting at his feet, unconscious, and about to be destroyed.

"TAI!" Sora called out once more, and managed to break away from Matt and Davis.

"Sora!" They shouted as she dashed forward, but she ignored them.

She got all the way to the fallen EmperorGreymon, stopping only once she reached his head. Behind EmperorGreymon Beelzemon was drawing an inverted pentagram in the air with his cannon, sneering as he watched the digidestined.

"Tai, I don't know if you can hear me in there, but you have to get up!" Sora said, looking at the digimon, she started to reach out a hand towards him. "Everyone needs you. You're the only one who can stop Beelzemon. Please, we need you…I need you."

"Corona Destroyer!" Beelzemon shouted as he completed the inverted pentagram and then backed up. He aimed his cannon at it and fired several blasts right into it, creating a massive energy beam which fired right at EmperorGreymon.

The beam impacted, causing a big explosion, which caused everyone, Beelzemon included, to shield their eyes. When the explosion cleared, there was nothing but a crater where EmperorGreymon and Sora had been seconds before.

"No…" Kari breathed as she looked forward at the crater. Most of the other digidestined were thinking much the same thing.

"Looks like that's the end of the infamous Tai Kamiya." Beelzemon said, laughing as he stepped towards the remaining Digidestined.

"Not so fast Beelzemon." A pair of voices called out from behind the digidestined. All of them spun around, and Beelzemon looked up, to see EmperorGreymon standing a little distance behind the digidestined, his dropped sword held in his hand. "However, it is the end for you!"

EmperorGreymon grabbed the cross-guards of his sword, lowering it so that it faced Beelzemon.

"Dragonfire Crossbow!" The edges of the swords blade separated from the blade, which ignited. EmperorGreymon then pulled on the pair of triggers that had also appeared, and the blade shot out, straight at Beelzemon.

The Demon Lord was so stunned he couldn't move, and the attack hit him full in the chest, ironically hitting the Crest hanging from his neck.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Beelzemon shouted, before shattering into a thousand different bits of data.

~_Chapter end~_

_Well, there we go, Beelzemon is dead…or is he? Guess you'll have to wait until next time to find out! Until then!_

_**Review Replies**_

_TheOmegaMan: Good, that was my intent. And thanks! I'm glad you're finally figuring it out._

_LyraXEthan:Thanks! and the Crest of Faith is Davis's Crest, i talked about it a bit in chapter 7ish time frame._

_Appealtoreason: but cliffhangers are so much fun! Lol. And I say neither! Though it was almost VictoryGreymon…_

_Dark Anbu Knight: And congratulations! You're the very first person to figure all of it out, biomerging and the fact that it allows Tai to control Agumon. Good job! (if I had a prize, you'd win it)_

_TaioraWarrior: Glad you liked it, I honestly really enjoyed writing that scene. Writing up things like that are my absolute favorite thing to do. And he did. I actually tried to make him the good guy in that scene, while the sovereigns weren't so good. Yea, that one just came to me as I was writing the scene. I don't think it really happened, but it seemed like a good way to tie my story to reality more lol. And yep. The jerks. And who said this was most of the secrets? We've only gotten the tip of the secrets…How'd you like battle part 2? And Tai didn't have anything planned, his digivice on the other hand…and yea, I know you, and everyone else for that matter, will be looking forward to that._

_Phantomgirl96: You were close, oh so close. Though technically biomerging is going to the mega level, so you're kinda right…good job!_

_Dxprototype: I'm glad you're enjoying it! And thanks!_

_my daydream world:Thanks! I'm glad you are! And thanks again!_

_Supershooter: I just found it funny that you review as I was putting the finishing touches on the chapter lol. And I agree with you, I just wanted to tie my story to the actual show a bit better. You know what I mean? I'm glad you liked it, and yea, that's exactly what happened! Lol_

_The other Guy: So first off sorry this wasn't posted Friday…my friends all kinda kidnapped me when I was trying to write. Now your review. Hey, I have to mess with you. Especially since a lot of the web page deals with the seven deadly sins. You'll figure it all out if you look at the page. And note this time I didn't steal your powers. And good! That's exactly what I was going for with the sovereigns, so it worked well. They don't have partners, the Crests are theirs. And no, they were around before Apocalymon was destroyed. Ok, I'll take the never mind haha. And I tried to make them more arrogant and cocky rather than dumb. They think their plans are perfect and their power unlimited, but their obviously wrong. I'm glad you liked it, I thought it was good from there as well. The bear you should recognize from the demon lord page on the wiki, and jane ran for her life. 13 people who hate her, and her out of power, not good for her. And he's been fighting for 3 years, while the others have been eating for the last 3 years, he's got a lot more experience and a lot more endurance than them. . he's been in big battles before. Also his opponents were weaker. And he had the power of digimodification to help him out. And good guess. I love biomerging personally, so I had to have it in here. Actually I almost got your timing down well. Maybe you just shouldn't mention updating…_

_Odinson83(1): Glad you liked it! And two things with that. (1) I didn't want to focus on them since it was Sora and Jane's chapter. (2) you didn't see TK. He had a much harder time than Kari. Kari's crest is a rather odd one in my opinion. Someone either has light in them or not, you can't really have the wrong type of light or something, so it's really easy for her to use her Crest. Hence why she could escape. Tai just had to reactivate his crest, since he'd already escaped before._

_Odinson83(2): Thanks! and no worries._


	21. Aftermath

_Hi everyone, I know it has been a long time (three weeks, I know, I suck) but I'm finally here with the next chapter. I know no one likes excuses, but I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I literally tried four different approaches and none of them turned out good, until this version. So sit back and enjoy._

_Also, as a special treat, I'm offering to write a couple of one-shots or very short fics on events in this story (like what happened with Tai while he was gone or the other digidestined, or the encounter between Tai and Sora, or even the battle with Parallelmon) So, what I want you guys to do is this: either send me a PM, or tell me in a review, which scene you want to see a one shot from, and I'll write a couple of them up._

_Ok, enough from me, on with the story!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I still don't own digimon. I mean seriously people if I suddenly got the rights to digimon I don't think I'd be posting this in fan fiction!_

**Chapter 20 Aftermath**

~the Digital World~

Gennai stood alone in the Crest Room, studying the Crest of Courage as he once more waited for those he had summoned. That particular Crest was glowing far brighter than any of the other Crests around it, and Gennai was quite curious as to why this was.

In the past the only time the Crest symbols here in the Crest Room lit up like that was the very first time they were used to reach a higher digivolution level. Each of the Crests (other than Kindness) had burned that bright at least once before, and Courage and Friendship had burned like that twice, but Gennai had never expected any of them to burn that brightly again.

_Just what has Tai gotten himself into while he's been gone?_ Gennai wondered to himself as he looked at the Crest. Suddenly the other seven original Crests glowed, and the Digicores that the Sovereign's used to communicate with Gennai within the Crest Room appeared.

"What is it this time Gennai?" Zhuqiaomon asked, sounding annoyed, which was most likely because he was. Since Gennai's original purpose had been to oversee the original Eight digidestined's Partner's eggs and their Crests, and he was now the main method of communicating with the Digidestined, Zhuqiaomon's hatred of humans often times transferred itself onto Gennai as well, especially since the appearance he had taken was one of a human. That meant that Zhuqiaomon was never pleased when Gennai summoned the Sovereign's for any reason, let alone when he summoned them for an emergency like he had.

"If you'll look behind you, the Crest of Courage is acting up once more." Gennai said, gesturing to the Crest in question.

"So, it's glowing brighter than the others, what does it mean Gennai?" Baihumon asked Gennai.

"Usually the Crests only glow that bright on their own when a Crest is used to digivolve a partner for the first time." Gennai replied, earning a snort from Zhuqiaomon.

"So, you called us here for no reason?" He asked, "Since it appears that you already know why it is glowing."

"But hadn't the Agumon partnered with the Bearer of Courage already obtained his Mega level with the Crest of Courage?" Baihumon asked, before Gennai could reply to Zhuqiaomon. That comment caused a silence to depend upon the Crest Room.

"You are correct, Baihumon." Azulongmon answered for both Gennai and Zhuqiaomon. "Both the Bearer of Friendship and the Bearer of Courage have already achieved the Mega level."

"Gennai, does this mean what I think it means?" Zhuqiaomon asked Gennai.

"You mean, has the Bearer of Courage pushed his partner to the Super Ultimate level?" Gennai asked, speaking the question that terrified each of the Sovereigns in the room.

The Super Ultimate level was the next level of digivolution beyond the Mega level. A Super Ultimate digimon was all but unstoppable, unless confronted by another Super Ultimate. They could throw Mega level digimon (including the Sovereigns) around as if they were In-Training level digimon. A Super Ultimate digimon hadn't appeared in the digital world for hundreds of digital years, and for a very good reason. Super Ultimates weren't what you would call a normal digimon. They didn't reach that level of power naturally, and the unnatural ways that a digimon used to reach the Super Ultimate were usually so deranged that only the most vile of digimon would even attempt to use them.

Luckily the last known digimon to possess the knowledge to reach the Super Ultimate level had been destroyed long ago, while attempting to gain even more power. Since then there had been attempts to reach a level of power above Mega, like a Super Ultimate. The Burst Mode that had been discovered in one of the other digital worlds was one of these, as was the X-Digivolution that the Gennai had been developing for the digidestined.

_Speaking of the X-Digivolution…_ Gennai thought to himself, remembering the other reason he'd summoned the Sovereigns. Before he could ask that question Zhuqiaomon answered his question.

"Yes, of course that's what I mean!" He exclaimed, and Gennai faced his Digicore.

"I do not believe that he has. I could be wrong, but we would have detected the imbalance of the world that the birth of a Super Ultimate would have signified." Gennai replied.

"Then what could it be?" Baihumon asked, and Gennai sighed.

"It could be anything. The Bearer of Courage could have unlocked a new way of digivolving, or something else is happening with his Crest." Gennai started to tell the Sovereigns. "I don't think I need to remind all of you that the Crests aren't just there to help with digivolution, they do far more than that."

"Of course Gennai." Zhuqiaomon deadpanned. His voice then turned more thoughtful. "I think we need to find out exactly what is going on in the human world, and if Beelzemon has anything to do with this."

"I agree." Azulongmon replied quickly. "We need more information before we can act. Gennai, you will travel to the human world and ascertain exactly what is going on there."

"Of course." Gennai replied, bowing to the blue Digicore.

"Very well. If there is nothing else, we shall depart." Zhuqiaomon said, the Crest behind him starting to glow, along with all the others in the room.

"Actually, there was one more thing." Gennai spoke quickly, and the glowing stopped.

"What is it Gennai?" Azulongmon asked, and Gennai once more turned to the blue Digicore.

"I would like to give the digidestined the X-Digivolution upgrade while I am in the human world." Gennai said, looking at all four of the Digicores around him.

"And just how many of these X-Digivolution upgrades have you prepared so far?" Baihumon asked, speaking before the others.

"Just one is complete at this time." Gennai replied. "But, even one digimon with that power could turn the tide of battle for the digidestined." There was a snort form Zhuqiaomon at that statement, but Gennai wasn't finished. "And it could mean the elimination of one or more of the Demon Lords."

That shut Zhuqiaomon up right away, and Azulongmon spoke up before the Sovereign of the South could recover.

"Very well Gennai, you may use your one upgrade during you trip." With that all of the Crests glowed, and Gennai was alone. Now he needed to get to the real world.

~The Real World~

Tai Kamiya sat straight up, nearly hitting his head on the top bunk that he hadn't known was there.

_Where am I? The last thing I remember was being EmperorGreymon, and fighting Beelzemon…_ Tai wondered to himself.

~Flashback~

EmperorGreymon grab ahold of the cross-guards of his sword, lowering the sword so that it faced Beelzemon.

"Dragonfire Crossbow!" The edges of the swords blade separated from the blade, which ignited. EmperorGreymon then pulled on the pair of triggers that had also appeared, and the blade shot out, straight at Beelzemon.

The Demon Lord was so stunned he couldn't move, and the attack hit him full in the chest, ironically hitting the Crest handing from his neck.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Beelzemon shouted, before chattering into a thousand different bits of data.

~UnFlashback~

_That's the last thing I remember, taking out Beelzemon._ Tai continued to think to himself, as he looked around the room he was in.

One of the two questions he had was answered as he looked around however, because he recognized the room he was in. It was his room. The room he'd lived in ever since his family had moved from Highton View Terrace to Odaiba.

The room was exactly how he remembered it being when he'd left it to go face down Parallelmon on that fateful day three years ago. It was clean for once, since his mother had made him clean it the day before and he hadn't had time to mess it up yet. All of his soccer posters were still up on the walls, and the shelves were covered with trophies and medals from the same sport, all belonging to him.

Tai was quite shocked at how exactly things were the same. He'd often imagined when he'd finally manage to get back home exactly how different things would be. He always thought that his parents would convert this room into an office, or a bowling alley, like they had been planning to when he was filling out college applications. Yet, now that he was here the room was exactly how he remembered it, and it even seemed to be well dusted and vacuumed.

Something caught Tai's eye as he looked around the darkened room. There was something on his desk, which hadn't been there before.

_What's that?_ Tai wondered to himself as he stepped over to the desk. The last things he remembered being on his desk were a few school books that he'd left there rather than lugging them to school. There were several different things on the desk, and Tai couldn't really make out any of them in the dark, so he reached for the lamp on the desk.

Snapping it on Tai was surprised to see himself looking back at him. The desk was covered with pictures of him, usually with someone he knew, mostly close friends and family members. Tai took a step back, a little shocked at the sight, but after a second was used to this.

He'd gathered that everyone had thought that he was killed by Parallelmon, and this seemed to be some sort of shrine, or remembrance spot. Tai smiled a little at that, touched by what his family and friends had done in his memory. Tai looked at all of the pictures, smiling at some of the memories they brought back, until his eyes came upon the book.

It was sitting there in the middle of the desk, and his preoccupation with the pictures had caused him to miss it, despite the fact that it was clearly the center piece of the set up.

He looked at the book for a second, wondering at the title emblazoned on the front of it. It read simply, **The Diary**.

Tai hesitated for a second, and then opened up the book, looking at the first page. He got all the way through the message before he really realized what it was he was looking at exactly. By the time he saw Joe's signature at the bottom he was more than a little surprised.

He quickly flipped the pages and saw an entry from each of the digidestined, and then his parents, and then other people, friends from school and soccer, family members, all of them had a page where they left him a message.

_All of them, they said goodbye to me…_ Tai thought, a little freaked out, but very touched by the little bit he had seen in the book.

"So, you found the Diary." A voice said from Tai's doorway, and Tai spun around with lightning fast speed, ready to attack whoever it was out of sheer reflex. Joe was standing in the door, looking in at him.

"Joe…" Tai said, looking at the tall, blue haired man.

"I actually started that." Joe said, his eyes glazing over with memories. "We were all having a lot of difficulty coping with you being dead. One of my dad's friends recommended trying something like that. Before I knew it, we all had an entry, and everyone who knew you wanted to add their own."

"I, I don't know what to say." Tai said, speaking honestly. He hadn't really thought about what his absence had done to any of the others, only concerned with himself and finding a way back home.

"Don't say anything, it isn't needed." Joe said, and then stepped forward, pulling out a thermometer. "You were running a fever when we got you here, and I want to see if it's gone."

"What happened?" Tai asked as Joe stuck the thermometer under his tongue.

"Well, EmperorGreymon, er, well, you, or, you and Agumon, destroyed Beelzemon." Joe said, and Tai nodded, remembering that much. "Then, after that, EmperorGreymon broke back up into you and Agumon, and both of you collapsed completely. We weren't sure what had happened to you, but it turned out you were just completely exhausted. So we brought you back here so you could rest up."

Joe pulled the thermometer out and looked at it before nodding.

"Ok, you don't have a fever anymore." Joe replied, and then gestured for Tai to follow him out into the rest of the apartment.

Tai looked back at the Diary, but then followed after Joe. After all, there would be plenty of time to read the rest of it later if he wanted.

The two walked out into the living area, where Izzy, Ken, and Yolei were all sitting on the sofa, watching the news, which was showing scenes from the earlier battle. All of their partners, plus Gomamon and Agumon were laying on the ground in front of them, mostly asleep.

"Tai!" The three exclaimed, seeing him follow Joe out of his room. They jumped out of their seats, heading over to Tai. They spent the next few minutes talking, laughing, and asking questions. All four of them were quite curious as they hadn't had an encounter with him like most of the others.

Before long Tai was able to ask his own question, one that had been nagging him since he'd come out of his room.

"Hey, Joe, where's everyone else?"

~Elsewhere~

"Davis, if you don't hurry up and pick something we're going to be the last ones back." Matt said to the goggle wearing teen as he looked through a shelf of movies in the convenient store the two were in.

They were supposed to be picking some food for both the digimon and all the digidestined, and Davis had decided it would be a good idea to buy some movies so they could catch Tai up on what he'd been missing the last three years.

"Oh hold your digihorses Matt." Davis replied, picking out a third movie.

"Digihorses?" Matt asked, looking over at Veemon, who just shrugged, not able to take responsibility for his partner.

"Actually, there aren't any horses in the digital world." A voice spoke up from behind Matt, one he hadn't heard since the Christmas the digidestined had travelled the world. Matt spun around to see Gennai standing behind him and Davis, looking completely out of place in his brown robes.

Davis spun around as well, recognizing the voice just as Matt had.

"Gennai!" The two exclaimed at the same time. Gennai nodded, glad the two still remembered him.

"Greetings digidestined." He said, bowing to the two of them.

"What are you doing here Gennai?" Matt asked, suspicious of the being before them. Whenever he appeared things usually went from bad to worse.

_Though, things aren't bad right now. I mean, we already beat the bad guy. Maybe he's just a day late for once…_ Matt thought to himself.

"I was sent here by the Harmonious Ones." Gennai started, remembering to use the name that the digidestined knew the Sovereigns by. "They have been observing some of the events in your world, but were hoping for a better picture of what's going on."

"Wait, you know what's been going on?" Davis asked, looking at the robed man. They hadn't heard from him in ages, and now he suddenly appears, apparently knowing what has been happening.

"We know that the Bearer of Courage has returned, and that a powerful evil digimon known as Beelzemon is somewhere here in the human world." Gennai said, hoping the digidestined would fill him in on more details.

"Well, Beelzemon was here, now his data is scattered all over Odaiba." Davis said, still gleeful about their victory over the Demon Lord. Matt however was frowning at Gennai.

"Gennai, did you say that Tai had returned?" Matt asked, fixing Gennai with a stare that could kill.

Gennai froze as Matt asked him that question. Had he slipped up and said that?

"You knew!" Matt exclaimed, looking at Gennai with a new feeling of hatred surging in his gut. "You knew Tai was still alive, and you didn't tell us!"

Gennai looked at him, and knew that attempting to lie would just make matters worse.

"Yes, the Harmonious Ones knew that the Bearer of Courage was still alive." Gennai replied, looking between Matt, and the slightly confused Davis. "They decided not to tell you because he was as good as dead."

"What do you mean as good as dead?" Matt asked, both of his fists balled up into fists.

"Our digital world is protected by a powerful barrier that prevents beings in other, alternative worlds from accessing ours." Gennai said, looking at the ground. This wasn't at all how he expected this conversation to go. "It should have been impossible for him to return."

"Yea, well you should know by now that us digidestined are quite capable of doing the impossible." Matt said, suddenly tired of seeing their former guide. He'd been lying to them for the last three years about something of extreme importance, and that wasn't forgivable, at the moment. "Come on Davis." Matt turned and walked away, leaving Gennai behind.

"Wait Matt!" Gennai suddenly exclaimed as Matt walked away. Matt glanced back as Gennai hurried over to him.

"What?" Matt asked.

"Let me see your digivice. I have a gift for you." Gennai said, holding out his hand. Matt looked at his hand and then up to his face. Gennai could tell that he was considering not giving him his digivice, and considering it heavily. "It may help you fight any of the Demon Lords, should they somehow come here."

Matt looked at Gennai for another second, and then handed him his digivice. Gennai held it between his hands, which glowed for a second, and then he handed it back to Matt.

Matt examined it carefully, and noted two obvious changes. The first was the fact that the digivice had turned a shade of dark blue, just like it glowed when it was using his Crest. The second was a black X that went across the back.

"What did you do to it?" Matt asked, and Gennai chuckled.

"I've modified it so that you and Gabumon can access a power the likes of which you've never seen before." Gennai replied, and then looked up at the TV behind the counter. "And I think you'll need it soon."

Matt and Davis turned around quickly, looking at the TV which showed a large digimon standing in the middle of Odaiba, causing a massive amount of destruction.

"Where'd he go?" Davis asked, causing Matt to turn around. Gennai was gone.

"I don't know, but right now we've got place to be." Matt said, dropping the bag of food he had, and heading for the door, followed closely by Davis.

~Chapter End~

_Uh oh, I wonder who that could have been on the TV? Sounds like the digidestined aren't done just yet. Anyways, hopefully I won't take so long to update this next time, anyways, until then!_

_**Review Replies:**_

_Animepotterfan: Thanks! and thanks again!_

_T. Riyanto: Thanks! and I hope this answers your question. I don't know yet if anymore will get Mega, but there will be some more special digivolutions._

_TaioraWarrior: You know, you're supposed to put that backwards, it sucked, jk, I loved it…unless of course you really did hate it. And I'm glad you're enjoying the story that much. I aim to please lol._

_my daydream world: Glad you enjoyed it that much!_

_Dark Anbu Knight: Thanks! And actually I haven't decided yet, but probably no. I could think of a good way to fit him in, but my plans/ stuff I've already written have pretty much cut that possibility out. Now Lucemon Shadow Lord Mode, he'll probably make an appearance as the Ultimate boss._

_TheOtherGuy4544: So, you're not getting a review reply until you stop the silly not reviewing nonsense you're pulling in PMs. So now you have incentive._

_Now if I wasn't a nice guy I would leave that there, but I'm going to actually just try and mess with you a bit, then do this._

_And no, I won't do that. You don't even know who my friends are so they're safe. And messing with you is in all contracts. And yea, Journey inspired this a bit, I just changed things that I liked better. And yes, EG is a total BA. And you need to watch the battle between Beelzemon and Gallantmon. The only time the bullets moved that slow was when he was destroying the Crysalismon. And no, I just wanted to focus on Kari and Sora/in an intense one on one battle it's really hard to throw in the other people. And eh, I won't kill you. And that's because EG is from another world. Tai's program uploaded the info for Izzy. And yea, I mean with really heavy armor like EG has, it wouldn't hurt at all. And glad you caught that. I thought the extra presence of humans would establish more control for digimons. And yea, Agumon is EmperorGreymon, all around Tai, so he can do that. And yea, the other DL will be a lot of fun to write. Just wait for them to show up._

_LyraXEthan: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed. And soonish, though it'll be in the sequel not this particular story._

_Phantomgirl96: Yea, I thought it was pretty obvious myself, but no one else seemed certain about it. And I actually plan on going back and writing a story on Tai's adventures while he was gone, so that'll be in there. Though, when the crossovers start, you'll probably get a few flashbacks._

_Angelfish369: haha, I'm glad they are finally. And I wouldn't count the three out just yet if I were you._

_digimonfan18: Thanks! I had actually been planning to do that since I wrote The Diary, I was just waiting for the right moment, which happened to be this chapter. Thanks!_

_TheOmegaMan: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it that much._

_Supershooter: yep, right on time sound s right. And yea, I really wanted to do a lot with that, because a lot of stories I've read don't._

_xOne N Onlyx: haha, no worries. I'm glad you enjoyed both of them, and I tried pretty hard to make that one really cool. I'm glad you thought it was awesome, because that's what I was going for. I was planning on biomerge from the start, so I'm glad you picked up on it. And I'm glad you thought that because that's exactly what I was going for. And you're welcome. I do my best to keep things as balanced as possible, because I hate when things are ridiculous. And no, they never explain it, so I just with what I wanted in this lol. And actually that's one of my favorite stories, and was a big inspiration for this story (though I also hated the Renamon beating Magnamon part, and I used to hate the biomerging to EmperorGreymon, until I actually watched Frontier and realized just how awesome EmperorGreymon was.) And thanks again! And don't worry, you'll find out exactly where he is next chapter._

_Countdown: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it!_

_Shara Raizel: Thanks! I rather liked it myself (at least after watching Frontier. I used to hate all of Takuya's forms, until I actually watched the show.) And they did. More on that next chapter though. And I'm not sure on more megas, but there will be some different types of powering up for the digidestined, as you'll see fully next chapter._

_Agubiyofan: Thanks! and sorry but no. _


	22. The Sleeping Lord

_Well hello everyone, been a long time…which I'm sure all of you are more than aware of. Sorry it's taken so long to get this up, especially since it's right here at the end of the story, but I've been pretty busy. Anywho I'm back, and hopefully posting more often!_

_**Last Time:**__ When we last saw the digidestined (way, way, way back in the past…) Tai was recovering from his first time Biomerging with Agumon. While he was out most of the other digidestined had all gone off for one reason or another, leaving only a couple there at his apartment with him. While Matt and Davis were off getting food for all of them, they ran into Gennai, who modified Matt's digivice, telling him that he would be able to access a new power now. Then, just as he was leaving the city comes under attack, once more._

_**Disclaimer:**__ No, my long absence was not a quest to acquire the rights to digimon, sadly enough._

**Chapter 21 The Sleeping Lord**

Tai sat between Kari and Sora on his sofa, looking about as the digidestined around him shared stories of some of the things they'd done over the last three years. Joe and Izzy, oddly enough, seemed to have the most interesting stories, recounting the things the two of them had done during their time in college together.

"So Joe snuck out through the bathroom, while I was waiting in the ally, and we high tailed it out of there as soon as he got out." Izzy finished, looking over at Joe with a grin on his face.

"I still can't believe the two of you would do anything like that." Sora said, shaking her head. She'd changed out of her soaked clothes, along with the rest of the digidestined. She and Kari had been gone with Mimi to pick up clothes from Mimi's apartment when Tai'd woken up, while T.K. and Cody had been doing the same for Cody. Everyone else had a change of clothes at the Kamiya's, or with them from the trip to Kyoto.

Tai was still a little surprised at the worry he'd had when he'd woken to find several of the digidestined missing from his apartment, though two of them had worried him more than the others. Luckily all of the digidestined, other than Matt and Davis who were getting food, were back, and in sight.

_Odd, I've always done my best to watch out for everyone, but I've never worried quite this much._ Tai thought to himself, not quite joining in with everyone else's laughter. He knew that once he would have been laughing just as hard, or more likely be the one doing the telling, but right now it didn't seem quite as funny.

_Three years is a long time, and all of us have changed, especially me._ Tai thought to himself, reflecting on Sora's comment as the red head leaned against him.

_Gotta keep myself a little more relaxed…it's not like an angry Infermon is going to break into my apartment…_ Tai thought to himself once more, shaking his head. He glanced around the room as Izzy proceed to explain how his and Joe's actions had been perfectly reasonable ones when they'd been made, and his attention was drawn to the television set.

It was still set on the news channel that had been showing repeats of the battle earlier, at least the parts that they'd been able to record in the rain. The clips of EmperorGreymon and Beelzemon battling were gone, replaced by an aerial view of the battle area, which wasn't that far from where the digidestined were currently waiting.

_Thankfully this building didn't get hit during my battle with Beelzemon…_ Tai thought as the damaged area was actually shown off. He hadn't actually had the time to reflect on his biomerging with Agumon, but he was glad that he was able to Biomerge now.

Not only did it give him and Agumon access to his most powerful form, but it also allowed Tai to go out and battle with his friend. He'd hated it in the digital world the first few times, when they hadn't been able to do anything but cheer their partners on. His modify cards had help alleviate that sense of doing nothing a little bit, but Agumon was still fighting his battles for him, and taking almost all of the danger, which Tai absolutely hated.

_But I won't have to worry about that anymore._ Tai thought, with satisfaction, still looking at the TV, which is why he noticed when the building exploded on the screen. No one else was paying any attention as the building, which had made it through most of the battle with Beelzemon unscathed, suddenly exploded.

"What the hell?" Tai asked out loud sitting up suddenly. His words caused the rest of the digidestined to look over at him, while him getting up caused Sora to be more than a little surprised. Unfortunately his outburst directed the digidestined's attention away from the TV, so none of them saw the camera pick up a beam flying out of the battle area, heading for a building that looked suspiciously like his apartment building.

"DOWN!" Tai shouted, grabbing Kari and Sora as he flipped over the sofa. The other digidestined were more than a little confused, but luckily T.K. and, especially, Ken had fast reaction times. The two of them grabbed the others and hit the floor, just as the attack hit the building.

The entire building shook as whatever it was impacted. All of the digidestined let out shouts, or screams as the place shook from the attack, worse than any earthquake could make it shake. It stopped after a few seconds, but was immediately followed by another one.

Tai covered Kari and Sora until the second bout of shaking ended, and the building was calm.

"What's going on?" Mimi shouted just before the building shook as another blast slammed into it. The screaming was renewed, louder than it had been before. At this point Tai had had enough of the situation, and decided that it was time to get out of it.

"Agumon, door!" Tai called out into the room. He didn't know where his partner was, but he knew that he'd hear, and understand what he planned.

"Pepper Breath!" Tai heard Agumon call out a few seconds later, followed by a loud crack as his attack hit something, which Tai hoped was the door, which had been bolted shut earlier. A few seconds later and the shaking stopped once more, prompting Tai to get to his feet.

"Everyone follow me!" Tai called out to the digidestined, who looked at him for a second before slowly getting to their feet. As soon as he saw that they were indeed getting to their feet he turned towards the door, which Agumon had blasted open, and headed out it, Agumon on his heels.

He didn't look behind him as he headed for the stairs, but he could hear the others struggling to keep up. They had to get out before the building was completely destroyed by whatever was attacking them.

_And just what would be attacking us now?_ Tai wondered to himself as he raced towards the stairs. He hadn't thought any of the remaining Demon Lord troops would try an attack after their most powerful warrior, and leader, was defeated, otherwise he would have tried to be a little more alert.

_Being with the others is distracting me…_ Tai thought to himself as he slammed into the door to the stairs. He had to skid to a stop though as part of the floor that was supposed to be there for his feet was missing in the stairwell.

Tai grabbed a hold of the stair railing to keep himself from flying out into nothing. Luckily he'd outdistanced everyone else so they were able to slow to a stop before crashing into him. Tai took a deep breath before turning and dashing down the stairs. He had to lead the others out of the building, and this might speed things up, at least it would as long as none of the stairs below them had been taken out.

Luck seemed to be with Tai and the digidestined this time, as Tai was able to get to the bottom of the stairwell with no more problems, emerging into the wreckage filled street, just as a light lit up the sky above them.

All of the digidestined had the sense to duck for cover this time, as the building they had just exited was hit with another blast, and spewed debris out into the street all around them.

"Wormmon digivolve to!"

"Patamon digivolve to!"

"Palmon digivolve to!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to!"

"Gomamon digivolve to!"

"Tentomon digivolve to!"

"Armadillomon digivolve to!"

"Biyomon digivolve to!"

Another light lit up the street, this time all around the digidestined as their partners reacted to the danger coming at them and digivolved.

"Stingmon!"

"Angemon!"

"Togemon!"

"Aquilamon!"

"Ikkakumon!"

"Kabuterimon!"

"Ankylomon!"

"Birdramon!"

The eight giant Champion level digimon blasted most of the big bits of wreckage before it was able to hit any of the digidestined, but couldn't stop every single piece of debris, leaving the digidestined to cower as the smaller stuff hit all around them. A few seconds later and it was over with, and all of them got to their feet, looking around once more at the destroyed street.

"What's causing all of this?" Yolei asked as everyone got up onto their feet. There weren't any of the usual causes of massive destruction, namely a massive digimon swearing death to the digidestined and all humans.

Tai looked with the rest, back tracking where the attack had come from, since that's where their enemy would be. He couldn't see much since the only sources of illumination were the street lights that hadn't been knocked over or outright destroyed. Luckily Tai was looking in the right direction when something floated into the light.

It looked like some sort of large, stuffed bear, with giant horns and an alarm clock chained into its hands. The fact that was floating through the air was the only indicator that someone hadn't left their large teddy bear out in the street.

Most people would have been slightly curious about why the bear was floating, but other than that probably have dismissed it, but Tai wasn't most people.

"Everyone down!" Tai called out, just loudly enough for all the digidestined and digimon to hear. Luckily they were all still just listening to what he said, and everyone ducked down quickly.

"Did you see it Tai?" Mimi, who had been standing not too far from Tai, asked.

"Yea, it's right under that light." Tai replied, gesturing slightly towards where the bear was. He didn't dare move much more than that, because Tai had finally figured out what had been gutsy enough to attack after Beelzemon's defeat.

_I should have known there would be more than one of them, at least for a mission like this…_ Tai thought to himself as he glanced over the pile of debris he was hiding behind. He had to figure out a way to get it away from the other digidestined, and then take it out.

"Why is there a floating teddy bear in the middle of the street?" Yolei suddenly asked, and Tai turned towards her. She was looking right at the floating bear, and then back at Tai, expecting an answer.

"That's the thing that attacked us." Tai replied quickly, figuring that would be more than enough reason for Yolei to duck back into cover. Unfortunately Tai had never really know Yolei that well, or how impulsive and angry she could be.

"That thing?" She asked, loudly, standing up as she said that. Tai turned back, but couldn't do anything but watch as Yolei turned to her partner. "Aquilamon, go knock the stuffing out of that bear!" Yolei called out, pointing a finger boldly at the bear.

"Right Yolei!" Aquilamon replied, taking off into the sky.

"No wait!" Tai called out, but the bird digimon moved to fast for him, diving out of the sky, heading right for the bear.

"Blast Rings!" Aquilamon sent a series of blasts right at the floating digimon, hitting it and all around it, before pulling up out of his dive.

"Alright Aquilamon!" Yolei exclaimed, just before a loud alarm rang through the entire street. It was loud enough to cause the digidestined to cover their ears from the noise of it, but the sound that followed it was even worse.

Seconds after the alarm stopped a loud bellow, filled with rage filled the street, reaching out to the entire city. A massive form started to take shape in the smoke left over from Aquilamon's attack, growing quickly up several stories.

The digimon was massive, but you could see its resemblance to the bear like creature. It had the same colors, and horns, but all of it was stretched out over a massive body, bulging with muscles and shaking in rage. His chains were now stretched over his body, and doing anything but restraining him.

The digimon raised its bear like head to the sky and let out a terrible bellow, shaking the entire street once more.

"Wha…what is that?" T.K. asked, as all the digidestined stared up at the monster before them.

"Belphemon, the Demon Lord of Sloth." Tai said, looking up at Belphemon.

"De…demon Lord?" Yolei asked as Belphemon looked down at them.

"Yea…" Tai replied, and then jumped forward to knock Yolei out of the way as Belphemon raised a chain over his head, and then slammed it down into the ground where Yolei had been standing.

"Digimon attack!" Ikkakumon shouted out, and the nine Champion level digimon darted forward.

"No wait!" Agumon called out to them, attempting to stop them, but they didn't heed his words.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon shouted as he fired several torpedoes from his giant horn.

"How about a little Needle Spray!" Togemon started spinning, and sending hundreds of tiny needles flying at Belphemon.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon flew into the air before releasing a massive blast of fire right at Belphemon.

"Electro Shocker!" Kabuterimon charged up a large ball of electric energy between his arms, and then sent it flying right at Belphemon.

"Hand of Fate! Ha!" Angemon pulled his fist back as it started to glow with energy. He then threw it forward, releasing the energy in a blast that went right at Belphemon.

Aquilamon, Stingmon, and Ankylomon all started to attack as well, but Belphemon didn't give any of them the time to. The second Ikkakumon's torpedoes launched, the Demon Lord's attention had been diverted to the digimon.

"LAMPRANTHUS!" Belphemon ripped a huge chunk out of the street with his chain, showering the digidestined in debris. He didn't stop there however, swinging the chain around to hit all of the digimon who'd attacked him, and sending them flying out in all directions.

"Where did the freaking teddy bear go?" Yolei asked as everyone scattered a little, attempting to avoid debris.

"That is the teddy bear!" Tai replied. "Belphemon has two modes, Sleep Mode and Rage Mode. He spends most of his time in Sleep Mode, one of the reasons he's the Lord of Sloth, and he doesn't really move, or do anything, usually. However, if you wake him up he goes straight into Rage Mode, and is royally pissed at pretty much everything."

"He…wha…so that thing is the teddy bear?" Yolei asked, and Tai sighed, and then nodded. It would take too long to explain to her exactly why Belphemon did what he did.

"DARK HORN!" Belphemon unleashed waves of dark energy which crashed into the building surrounding the digidestined, causing more debris to rain down upon them.

"Is he trying to burry us alive?" Sora asked as she ducked into cover below the same car that Tai and Yolei were using for cover.

"No, he's just trying to destroy everything in sight." Tai replied, looking out as Belphemon released another wave of dark energy.

"Talk about someone who wakes up on the wrong side of the bed…" Sora said, covering her head as something hit the car covering them.

"Yea, and Tai complains about me in the morning." Agumon suddenly broke in, joining the three humans under the car.

"Agumon…" Tai said, looking over to his partner.

"…We need to biomerge." Agumon finished for Tai, and Tai grinned at him.

"You read my mind!" Tai replied, and then backed out from under the car, as Agumon did the same. As soon as the two of them were on their feet Tai looked over to his partner, who nodded. "Ok, let's do this!"

"Right!" Agumon replied, and then stood still. Human and digimon stood standing there for a few seconds, before turning towards one another.

"What are you waiting for?" They said at the exact same moment, before pausing to look at each other.

"Uh, Agumon, do you not know how to activate the Biomerge?" Tai asked Agumon, who shook his head.

"Do you not know?" Agumon asked back, and Tai replied with a head shake of his own.

"Uh oh…" The two said in unison.

"LAMPRANTHUS!" Belphemon added his own two cents as he struck at the two. Luckily the two were able to avoid the attack, dodging out of the way quickly. Fortunately for them Yolei and Sora had dashed away from the car they'd been hiding behind at the same time Tai and Agumon had, so they avoided death from Belphemon's attack that hit the car. Yolei found shelter with Ken and Joe, while Sora ended up with Kari and Izzy.

"How do you not know how to biomerge?" Tai asked his partner as they dashed behind a pile of rubble.

"How do I not know?" Agumon replied. "How do you not know?"

"Well that's a bit more like the Agumon and Tai I remember." Sora said to Izzy as the two bickered about who should know how to biomerge.

"Yea, but we need the Tai and Agumon who have their act scarily together for this battle." Izzy replied, looking over at the two. "Hey Tai!"

The two stopped as Izzy shouted Tai's name.

"Yea Izzy?"

"DARK HORN!" Belphemon once more released a wave of dark energy, most likely in an attempt to shut up the bugs that were hiding and shouting below him.

"Didn't you say that one of the groups you ran into could biomerge?"

"Uh, yea, they could." Tai replied.

"Well," Izzy said, hoping this would help. "Did they do anything special when they biomerged?"

Tai sat back, thinking for a second as several of the champion level digimon regrouped, and attacked. Only Kabuterimon, Angemon, Aquilamon, Stingmon, and Ankylomon were still at the champion level, as the others had regressed to the rookie level, so the attack was a short one, but it gave Tai a moment to think.

_Did they do anything…._ Tai thought, trying to remember what the Tamers had done the few times they'd biomerged. Next to him Agumon was also thinking, trying to remember. Then, it hit both of them at the same moment.

"Biomerge activate!" They shouted in unison, and Tai's digivice let out a blast of light that consumed the two of them.

"Agumon Biomerge to! EmperorGreymon!" The light cleared, revealing the armored Mega level digimon.

Before EmperorGreymon could do anything, even utter a word, Belphemon struck.

"LAMPRANTHUS!" One of his chains hit EmperorGreymon, sending him flying into one of the buildings still standing from Belphemon's Dark Horn attacks.

"Tai!" The digidestined called out as EmperorGreymon went flying.

_**Crap, that hurt, a lot.**_ Tai said inside EmperorGreymon, one hand over his chest where he'd been hit by Belphemon. Tai still found the floating in an orange ball, without any clothes, to be more than a little weird, but he couldn't really complain about the results. _**He has at least as much power as Beelzemon Blast Mode did.**_

_**He might even have more, especially when he's this enraged.**_Agumon replied from all around Tai.

_**Good point, we need to get him away from the others.**_

_**Right.**_

"Tai!" The call came from outside EmperorGreymon once more, getting both of his parts attention.

"I'm fine!" EmperorGreymon replied in both Tai and Agumon's voices.

"NOT FOR LONG!" EmperorGreymon looked over just in time to see Belphemon charging right at him, twirling both of his chains. For the moment it seemed that EmperorGreymon was Belphemon's primary target.

"We'll see about that!" EmperorGreymon replied, and drew the massive sword from his back.

_**He's bigger than us, **_Tai said to Agumon as he moved the sword into a rough guard position. Belphemon was almost twice the size of EmperorGreymon at this stage, towering at the same height as most of the buildings. _**So we're going to have to out maneuver and out think him.**_

_**Well, that second part should be easy enough…**_ Agumon replied, and Tai actually smiled a bit at the joke, but then Belphemon was on them.

"LAMPRANTHUS!" Belphemon lashed out with one of his chains, which EmperorGreymon easily blocked, since the chain was held straight out, like a sword. Belphemon then swung the other chain, hoping to hit EmperorGreymon while he was defending from the first chain.

EmperorGreymon was able to block the other one however, moving his massive sword with unbelievable speed.

Each blow blocked didn't damage either digimon, but the sheer power of Belphemon's attack and EmperorGreymon's guard caused shock waves to blast out from them every time they struck, destroying the area around them quickly. This kept all the digidestined pinned down in several groups, unable to link up.

EmperorGreymon blocked another blow, and then another, catching every one of them before they could hit him.

_**Tai, don't you think we shout attack?**_ Agumon asked as they blocked another blow.

_**No, not yet.**_ Tai replied, a plan forming in his mind as Belphemon attacked with reckless abandon. _**We need to wait for the right moment…**_

"ARGHAGHH!" Belphemon shouted, becoming more and more angry as his blows were blocked by the small, annoying red digimon. "LAMPRANTHUS!" Belphemon attacked again, and once again EmperorGreymon blocked his blow, but this time Belphemon didn't strike again.

Instead the chain, which had been holding in a straight line, similar to a sword, wrapped around EmperorGreymon's sword, capturing it.

"HHHAAAA!" Belphemon exclaimed, knowing he was about to finish off this thing that had helped to wake him.

"Oh no, EmperorGreymon!" Yolei exclaimed, looking on as EmperorGreymon was caught by Belphemon.

"I wouldn't be so concerned Yolei." Ken said from where he was laying down next to her, avoiding damage from the battle.

"What do you mean, he's got his sword!" Yolei exclaimed, gesturing over to the two digimon.

"Maybe, or maybe EmperorGreymon has Belphemon's chain." Ken replied, smirking as Yolei's eyes went wide.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" Belphemon exclaimed, yanking on the chain which held EmperorGreymon's sword.

"Funny," EmperorGreymon said in his dual voice. "I was going to say the same thing."

"WHAT!" Belphemon exclaimed, and EmperorGreymon suddenly yanked on the chain, using it to flip Belphemon over him, and right into one of the other buildings. Belphemon was completely surprised and crashed right into it. The entire building shook, and then collapsed on top of the Lord of Sloth.

"Time for you to sleep for a long time Belphemon." EmperorGreymon said, taking a step towards the collapsed building that held Belphemon, raising his sword over his head, and then driving it into the ground. "Pyro Dragons!"

The ground where EmperorGreymon drove his sword into it swelled upwards, and cracks started to appear in it, glowing red with fire. Seconds later nine fire dragons burst out of the ground, flying around before hitting the wreckage which covered Belphemon.

"And that's that." EmperorGreymon stated, replacing his sword onto his back. The digidestined and their injured partners all slowly came out of their hiding places, looking around at the new level of destruction the battle had caused.

They gathered in two groups, since they'd been scattered all around the battle field. Kari, Cody, Sora, and T.K. were on EmperorGreymon's left, while Izzy, Joe, Yolei, Mimi, and Ken were on his right.

"Wow, that was incredible!" Joe exclaimed, looking up at EmperorGreymon. "You took him out easily!"

"RRRAAAAGGGHHHHH!" A voice cut off EmperorGreymon before he could even start to reply, drawing everyone's attention. Belphemon stood up from the wreckage left from EmperorGreymon's attack, his fur singed, and dozens of wounds covering his body, which he didn't seem to notice at all.

"You had to say something Joe!" Mimi exclaimed, looking at Joe.

"Everyone get down!" EmperorGreymon shouted, and then charged right at Belphemon, hoping to buy the digidestined time to get back to cover. He drew his sword as he started to fly, barely skimming over the ground to reach Belphemon faster. "AAAHHHHH!" EmperorGreymon drew the sword back, and rammed it right into Belphemon's gut, impaling the Demon Lord right in the belly.

"RRAAGHHRGGHRAAA!" Belphemon seemed not to feel the sword however, and simply grabbed EmperorGreymon by the neck before he had the chance to get away. He lifted EmperorGreymon straight up into the air, attempting to squeeze the life out of him. "DIE!"

Belphemon held him there as both Tai and Agumon felt the crushing strength of his grip as it choked him, but apparently Belphemon didn't want to end him that way, since seconds later he tossed EmperorGreymon down the street. He landed on his back, not far from where he'd been standing.

"Tai!" All the digidestined once more called out as EmperorGreymon didn't seem able to get up. They even reemerged from their hiding places.

"ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!" Belphemon shouted, spinning one of his chains around. "LAMPRANTHUS!"

He threw the chain right at Sora, Kari, T.K., and Cody, all of whom were the first ones to emerge from cover. The four of them froze in place as the chain flew at them, their partners were still too injured to do anything, and had been left behind in cover.

"No!" EmperorGreymon suddenly appeared in between them and the chain. Appearing in the nick of time to block the chain, however without his sword, which was still in Belphemon's gut, he was hit directly with the attack, and flipped over. EmperorGreymon landed on his hands and knees, over the four digidestined.

"LAMPRANTHUS!" Belphemon launched several more attacks, each of them hitting EmperorGreymon.

_**I'm not going to let him hurt Kari, or Sora!**_ Tai declared, inside of EmperorGreymon as his back burned from the strikes, each hurting worse than the one before it. _**YOU WILL NOT HURT THEM!**_ Tai declared, to no one in particular as EmperorGreymon wasn't speaking.

Suddenly a fresh scream split the night, and EmperorGreymon looked up. Belphemon had stopped his attack on him, and was now sending a chain at the other group of digidestined. Tai's eyes were wide. He'd been completely focused on simply protecting Kari and Sora he'd forgotten completely about the other group, which needed his protection just as much.

_**NO! **_ Tai called out, _**We've got to save them!**_

_**I Know!**_ Agumon replied as EmperorGreymon started to rise, far too slow.

"Giga Missile!" A massive missile appeared from above, hitting Belphemon's chain before it could hit the other digidestined, and knocking it out.

_**What the…**_ Tai asked, both relived and confused.

_**It's MetalGarurumon! **_Agumon exclaimed, and the two of them looked up to see the armored wolf digimon descend, along with ExVeemon, who was carrying Davis and Matt.

"Looks like we got here right on time." Matt said, looking at the obviously weakened EmperorGreymon and the scattered digidestined.

"You can say that again." EmperorGreymon said, getting to his feet finally.

"How about we finish off this guy?" MetalGarurumon asked, as he glared down at Belphemon, who seemed a little shocked at their sudden appearance, that statement however seemed to un-shock him, as he roared at them.

"YOU THINK ONE WEAK LITTLE MEGA LEVEL IS GOING TO HELP YOU?" Belphemon roared at them, his rage easy to see even from a distance.

"Man, that guy has some anger issues." Davis said as ExVeemon finally landed. "Tai…er…I mean EmperorGreymon, what happened to your sword?"

"I think it's sticking out of Belphemon." ExVeemon replied, before EmperorGreymon could.

"What?" Davis asked, looking down, and seeing the sword, and really seeing Belphemon's condition. "Man, how is he still standing?"

"He's running on pure hatred and anger right now." EmperorGreymon replied. "When he's woken up he's even angrier than the Lord of Wrath. He's so angry he doesn't even feel his own wounds."

"Man, you'd think he'd notice a giant sword sticking out of his gut…" Davis replied, shaking his head. "Anyways, I think it's time to finish him off, before he destroys anything else."

"Sounds like a great idea, but I need to get my sword back before I can do that." EmperorGreymon replied, gesturing over to Belphemon.

"What you don't think we could take him out?" Matt asked, looking over at EmperorGreymon.

"Well…" The digimon replied, but Matt just grinned at him.

"Don't worry about it, I know what you're thinking, but we've got a couple of new tricks up our sleeves." He said, and then turned to Davis, who'd grabbed Ken, and nodded.

Ken held out his digivice first, and Wormmon digivolved into Stingmon. Then both Davis and Ken held up their digivices. Tai knew where this was going, and wasn't entirely sure this would stop Belphemon, but it could help.

"ExVeemon! Stingmon! DNA digivolve to! Paildramon!"

"Paildramon Mega digivolve to! Imperialdramon!"

ExVeemon and Stingmon were both covered in a bright light, and when it disappeared, a massive dragon, covered in black armor appeared in their place. He had huge red wings, and a giant cannon on his back.

Imperialdramon took right off, speeding right towards Belphemon, who roared a challenge at the giant dragon. EmperorGreymon prepared to run forward as well. If Imperialdramon distracted Belphemon long enough EmperorGreymon might just be able to get his sword back, and stop him.

"Wait!" Matt called out as EmperorGreymon started to move forward. EmperorGreymon looked down at the Bearer of Friendship, who was looking over at MetalGarurumon. "We've got one more ace to play."

~flashback~

Matt looked around the store for Gennai as Gabumon waited by his side. Even though he knew he should be moving to help his friends, he couldn't because he needed to know what Gennai was talking about. This power could help them win the battle, but he needed to know how to use it first…

As he thought that the digivice in his hand glowed, catching his attention. Matt looked down as the light disappeared, revealing some scrolling text.

It read: …eed to hold your digivice up to MetalGarurumon and say X-Digivolution activate. To use the power you need to hold your digivice up to MetalGarurumon and say X-Digivolution activate.

The message kept repeating, and Matt had to smile. For once something that sounded relatively simple to do.

"Davis, let's go!" Matt exclaimed, charging out into the street, knowing what he had to do.

~UnFlashback~

Matt held his digivice, which was now a dark blue color, up to MetalGarurumon.

_Well, here goes something…._ Matt thought to himself as he opened his mouth.

"X-Digivolution activate!" He shouted, and for a second nothing happened, and then his digivice emitted a light which engulfed MetalGarurumon.

"MetalGarurumon X-Digivolve to!" The light cleared, revealing a changed MetalGarurumon. He was now standing on his two rear legs, just like WereGarurumon. His forward left leg had been replaced with a massive Gatling gun, and several different weapon pods had appeared all over his body. His forward right leg had transformed into a hand and arm as well. "MetalGarurumon X!"

"Wow…" EmperorGreymon, and the rest of the digidestined said, looking at MetalGarurumon's changed form.

_**Agumon, have you ever heard of this X–Digivolution? **_Tai asked inside EmperorGreymon.

_**No, I've never heard of it.**_ Agumon replied, his voice sounding awed from the event they'd seen. _**But he feels powerful, nearly as powerful as us.**_

_**That's good.**_ Tai replied, turning EmperorGreymon towards Belphemon and Imperialdramon. _**Let's finish off another Demon Lord.**_

EmperorGreymon looked from Belphemon to MetalGarurumon X, and then back again.

"Let's go MetalGarurumon X." EmperorGreymon shouted in his twin voices, dashing forward.

"Right!" MetalGarurumon replied, following after the red dragon. He quickly outpaced him, speeding right towards Belphemon. Belphemon had just tossed Imperialdramon into one of the buildings that was still standing when MetalGarurumon X arrived.

"Metal Storm!" The gun that was his left arm started to spin, and then unleashed a massive torrent of rounds, all of which hit Belphemon or all around him. The digimon just shouted in rage as the bullets hit him all over, causing more and more wounds.

"Garuru Tomahawk!" MetalGarurumon launched several missiles from the missile rack behind his left shoulder, which all hit Belphemon, causing him to cry out once more. "Metal Wolf Claw!" Then he lined up the cannon behind his right shoulder and fired a blast of frozen energy, which hit Belphemon.

At this point EmperorGreymon finally caught up with MetalGarurumon X, and looked at the giant wall of smoke created from his attacks.

"I think I finished him." MetalGarurumon X said, looking back at EmperorGreymon.

"Careful, I won't believe he's gone until I see him disappearing into data." EmperorGreymon replied in his dual voices.

"I don't see how he could have survived that much firepower…" MetalGarurumon X started to say, only to be interrupted by Belphemon.

"AAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" He shouted, lumbering out of the smoke, one of his arms no longer attached and data leaking from that shoulder.

"What does it take to kill this thing?" MetalGarurumon asked, looking at the horrible damaged Belphemon.

"He doesn't feel any pain in Rage Mode, so he can fight until all his enemies are destroyed." EmperorGreymon replied. "He's basically just a berserker in that mode, one of the reasons he's the least seen Demon Lord. They simply can't control him."

"Well, we have to control, or destroy him. Now." MetalGarurumon X replied to EmperorGreymon's explanation, as they watched Belphemon struggle towards them.

"Ok…" EmperorGreymon replied, looking at him, and then at MetalGarurumon X. "Ok, I need you to cover me while I get my sword back. Then we'll hit him together and see if he likes that."

MetalGarurumon looked at him, and nodded, bringing up his Gatling gun. He started firing at Belphemon, who was only enraged at the attack. He dashed forward, right at EmperorGreymon and MetalGarurumon X. EmperorGreymon ran to meet him.

The armored dragon digimon crashed into the Demon Lord, and actually stopped him in his tracks.

"You have something of mine!" EmperorGreymon announced, reaching down to grasp the hilt of his sword. "And I want it back!" He yanked to sword right out of Belphemon, which actually seemed to register in the enraged digimon's mind, as he bellowed in rage once more.

EmperorGreymon retreated back, slightly in front of MetalGarurumon X, who fired another barrage of missiles at Belphemon.

"Ok, now let's hit him at the same time." EmperorGreymon said, pointing his sword at Belphemon.

"Count me in!" Imperialdramon shouted, rising out of the building he'd crashed into, now in his Fighter Mode, a form where Imperialdramon assumed a more humanoid shape and his fighting power was tripled.

"Ok, now!" EmperorGreymon shouted, lowering his sword to its firing position.

"Giga Crusher!" A massive cannon emerged from the dragon's mouth on Imperialdramon chest, which Imperialdramon proceeded to fire at Belphemon.

"Garuru Burst!" all of the gun and missile ports on MetalGarurumon X's body opened up and fired, every blast heading right for Belphemon.

"Dragonfire Crossbow!" EmperorGreymon finally got his sword into crossbow configuration and fired along with the others.

All three attacks hit Belphemon, completely engulfing the digimon in a massive blast. The shockwaves from the blast ripped up what was left of the surrounding area. All three mega level digimon braced themselves as they waited to see if their most powerful attacks finished the fight.

The light faded after several seconds, revealing the last bit of Belphemon, as it slowly disappeared into data.

All three digimon let out a sigh of relief as they saw that, and then all three glowed.

MetalGarurumon X dedigivolved into Tsunomon, while Imperialdramon split into DemiVeemon and Minomon, and EmperorGreymon split into Tai and Agumon.

All five of them fell right to the ground, completely exhausted, while the digidestined and all the other digidestined rushed towards them, shouting.

"Well Agumon, that's two down." Tai said, looking over at his partner.

"Only five more to go." Agumon replied, looking back at his partner.

"We can do this." Tai replied, holding out his hand which Agumon took. "Together."

~Chapter End~

_Well, there you have it, the end of the second Demon Lord. They don't seem so tough now, or so the digidestined are starting to think. Well, I'm going to apologize one last time for taking so long to update, and now, on to the review replies!_

_**Review Replies!**_

_Appealtoreason: Ah, quite right you are. Sometimes I forget little things like that…silly me…_

_LyraXEthan: How did you like Matt's upgrade? It certainly goes a good way towards evening the playing field, or so I would have all of you think. And yea, Matt's been Tai's best friend for a while, though that wasn't really the reason he got the upgrade, or at least not the sole reason…_

_T. Riyanto: Hey how's it going yourself? Life's fine, for now at least, maybe a tad bit too busy. I'm glad you like all of the story, because I do my best to make a complete story, not just something about fighting, since digimon wasn't just about fighting. And if Belphemon was a little too fast for you, don't worry, things will take a long time for everyone else. And I'll try to update more regularly!_

_Japboix1: haha, thanks! I wish I had the time to write it and keep it going, but often times that is not possible, as evidenced by my long absence._

_Dark Anbu Knight: My thoughts exactly. I've never been a huge fan of MetalGarurumon, but MG X, now that's a totally different story, he's awesome! Thanks!_

_Agubiyofan: Thanks! and sorry it wasn't so soon, and thanks!_

_Supershooter: ah, there are horse like digimon, but no digihorses…there is a difference…at least in my mind lol_

_TaioraWarrior: The Japanese defense force…that's a good question…they probably should have made an appearance, but I'm just going to say they've learned not to meddle in digital affairs…yea…not really anymore time in the Kamiya apartment since the building got toasted…sorry about that…and he will, though not quite as you're expecting I'm sure. And of course! Davis already got powered up this story, so it was obviously Matt's turn lol. And thanks! I always try to make that distinction._

_Shara Raizel: Yep he was, though he didn't get the chance to read too much of it. Well, it may have been a bit odd, but I wanted them split up that way for a reason, and they're all friends so it works out._

_TheOtherGuy4544: so I'm a mean person now, am I? I suggest you deal with it, cause that's how life works….well, that's what I'd say if I was really a mean person. Otherwise I'm just going to ignore the rest of that first paragraph. The bullets only moved slow at certain points, other times they moved really fast, like when he was moving around Gallantmon really fast on his bike, the bullets weren't moving slow at all. Well Tai's program is his digimon analyzer and digidestined tracking program…just get over it! His core data maybe, but not his specifics. Think of his as a sort of mutation, one that no one knows about in the adventure world. And maybe, I haven't decided yet on that….and yes, too much, though I'll let you have your one chapter of glory, just for you. yea I know I missed Sora, someone pointed that out. Davis as well I guess. Sometimes I forget my own stuff, my bad. And no, DNA is without crests, so it doesn't count. And Super Ultimate is the stage after Mega. In Japan Mega is translated as Ultimate, so Super Ultimate is the step after Ultimate (Mega). And hey, kids can eclipse their parents, easily, especially if the parents don't pay attention to them. Hey! Don't call the sovereigns inconsiderate! Just cause it's true doesn't make it nice! Yea, yea, I know, I still made some mistakes, so sue me… Well, you'll have to settle for clothes, important in their own way. And their digimon. Humans aren't related to horses, so digimon aren't related to digihorses. And no Gennai didn't do his homework, EmperorGreymon is still stronger._

_Animepotterfan: you're welcome! And thanks!_

_Jarek: Sorry, life has been a little hectic recently._

_Sunwraith: Sorry that took so long._

_Marek: right now! Belphemon! And most likely!_


	23. Epilogue

_Well, you've probably guessed it my the title, but this is the last update to the return! (tears up…) I've finally finish the first part of the main __Demon Wars__ story, so enjoy this brief epilogue, and pay attention, it's important for the __**SEQUEL**__!_

**Epilogue**

Tai Kamiya looked around the remains of his apartment as Agumon stood silently by his side. He'd wanted to come back here one last time before the building was demolished to make way for its replacement.

He'd grown up in this apartment, and imagined what it would be like coming back to it many times over his three years in another dimension. He'd made many memories in this place, and to see it burnt up and nearly completely destroyed was almost like losing an important part of his life.

He'd been planning on making more than a few new memories here when he got back, but it seemed he'd have to do that somewhere else for now. And in another time, since he couldn't come back into the fold, not completely, not yet.

~Flashback~

"What do you mean you're not coming back with us?" Kari asked, looking up at Tai as he stood dressed in his coat, and wearing a completely neutral expression.

"Exactly what I said Kari." Tai replied looking at her. Sora was the only other digidestined present in the room, since she was the only other one who Tai wouldn't be living with in the Kamiya's temporary apartment.

"Ok then, why?" Kari asked, looking at him with a determination not to let him do what he said.

"Because I have to." Tai replied, hoping that this conversation could have been avoided. "I can't let myself…" Tai started to say, but stopped, knowing that if he finished that sentence his sister would never let him leave.

In all honesty he had to get away from the digidestined, at least for now. He'd gotten completely reattached to Kari and Sora, and it had almost cost Izzy, Joe, Mimi, Ken, and Yolei their lives. There may not have been another way as Agumon said, but Tai couldn't take that risk. He had to protect all of the digidestined, otherwise the barrier protecting this world would fall, and all the Demon Lord's armies would be able to enter, and everything would be lost.

"Can't let yourself what?" Kari asked, stepping forward, to which Tai stepped backwards. He was going to have to tell her, but she'd never understand.

"Kari, stop." Sora suddenly said, entering the conversation. She stepped forward, grabbing Kari's arm. "You need to give him a little space. Let me talk to him."

Kari looked like she wanted to argue, but then she nodded. Sora let go of her arm, and she went into the other room. That left him and Sora in the room by themselves.

"You're not going to go and disappear on us, are you?" Sora asked, looking down. Tai looked at her, and felt his heart wretch. He hated to do this to any of them, especially Kari and Sora, and especially after everything that had happened.

It felt like he was regressing after making all this progress, but he had to do it. He had to protect all of them, and he couldn't do that if he got reattached to Kari and Sora. Human nature would have him play favorite, and he'd never be able to forgive himself if one of the others died because he wanted to protect Kari and Sora more.

"Not completely." Tai replied, taking a step closer to Sora.

"You're not going to another dimension are you?" She asked, still not looking at him.

"No, I'll be here, protecting all of you." Tai replied. "I just need a little space. For perspective."

Sora kept looking down, and moving slightly forward. She'd talked to Agumon when Tai had been sleeping. She knew how he'd reacted to the others almost getting killed during the battle with Belphemon. She knew exactly what he was going to try.

He may be three years different, but she knew Tai. He was taking the responsibility of protecting each and every one of them onto his shoulders, and he was going to try and do it alone, or at least just with Agumon. She knew all of that, and she wanted nothing more than to stop him, tell them that they could help, but she wasn't going to.

She was going to let him do this thing, and there was one reason for that. Tai thought that it was right. Even if it wasn't, and people could be hurt, _Tai_ would be hurt somehow if they stopped him. Maybe not today, or next week, but somewhere down the road he would be hurt, and she couldn't bear to see that anymore.

Which is why she was going to let him go, for now.

"You won't be far, will you?" Sora asked again, still moving forward.

"No, not far at all." Tai replied, almost touching Sora now. He was so close to her, yet what he had to do was going to take him away from her, but not right this moment.

Sora was about to reply when Tai suddenly grabbed ahold of her, taking her into a massive bear hug. Sora was shocked for a moment, and then returned his hug.

Tai had to go, but the day would come, and come soon, when he wouldn't have to anymore.

"I won't be too far." Tai whispered once more into Sora's ear, and then both of them were quiet, just holding each other.

~Unflashback~

Tai stepped into the room that had been his, for one last look at the room he'd spent most of his life in. He took in the entire place, and suddenly felt slightly less sad. Yes, the apartment that he'd grown up in was gone, but in all honesty he'd left it long ago, when he was sent to another dimension.

As much as he might hate it, he had changed. This apartment was part of his past, something to be remember but not something to be concerned over. He'd already shed his tears for the past, it was time to move onto the future.

He took one last look, and spied something on his desk. He stepped closer, and realized it was that book, the one the others had written in when they thought he was dead. He picked it up. He'd wanted to know what all the others had written to him, but that didn't seem as important as it had.

_Still, the others will probably want it…_ Tai thought to himself, and put it under his arm. He stepped back out of the room, to where Agumon was waiting for him.

"Well, let's go Agumon." Tai said, smiling at his partner. That was one thing he wouldn't regress on. "We've got some work to do."

~In another dimension~

"Beelzemon and Belphemon have fallen…" Lilithmon, Demon Lord of Lust said, absentmindedly, checking her nails.

"This is horrible, how could something have destroyed two of our comrades!" Barbamon, the Lord of Greed spoke up, looking around at the other four digimon.

"They were foolsssss, and got trapped by the Sovereignsssss! That issss all!" Leviamon, the Demon Lord of Envy, hissed into the room.

"No, it was not the Sovereigns." Daemon, the Lord of Wrath replied.

"Indeed." Lucemon, Lord of Pride, said to the room, looking at his brethren. "It was Kamiya."

"We should have destroyed him when he was merely annoying." Barbamon said, slamming down his staff to punctuate his sentence.

"I believe we should have taken him," Lilithmon replied sounding like she was agreeing, then smiled an evil smile, "But I think he would have been better as a plaything."

"He should have been kill…!" Barbamon started to reply, but Lucemon raised a hand, silencing all of them. They all focused on him, waiting to hear what he had to say. The Demon Lords were all powerful digimon, but Lucemon was heads above the rest of them, which is why he led them.

"This is a moot point." Lucemon said, speaking in a smooth voice, "That is in the past and something we cannot change. The future however is a different matter. It is time to put our master plan into action."

With that declaration, all the other Lords sat back in their chairs, smiles breaking out onto their faces. Lucemon had been waiting for something to start the plan they'd come up with years before, the one to finally rid themselves of the Sovereigns and control all of the worlds, and now he was finally ready to use it.

_You may have defeated two of us Kamiya._ Lucemon thought to himself as the other Lords all started talking to each other, a smile on his face. _But you've gained nothing that I'm not about to take from you._

~Chapter End~

~Story End~

_Well, that's that, and everything is certainly set up for the craziness and digital action in its sequel. Look for it to come out, soonish. Just so you know, it will be called:_

_**Digimon Demon Wars: The Fall**_

_Well, it's been a fun ride with this story, now on to new things!_


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